


Her One True Love’s a Sailing Ship

by angstbot



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Swen, swan queen - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-02-05 23:55:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 59,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12805152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstbot/pseuds/angstbot
Summary: When Regina's curse failed, she became a pirate dedicated to harassing Snow's ships. After a stint stuck in Neverland, she's back in the business, but ransoming this runaway noblewoman turns out to be more complex than expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hook is only in it for a couple paragraphs, if he bothers you.
> 
> And my Tumblr followers can testify that this story was planned long before people started talking about Pirate Regina after the most recent episode.

“Damn it,” Regina hissed under her breath. Firing a warning shot across the bow worked a lot better when you were remotely close to the bow. Then she raised her voice to carry to the crew. “Hard about! We’ll take another pass!”

“This is embarrassing,” Marian said, standing more calmly beside her than she had any right to when this thing was going so wrong, the tightening of her fingers around the railing to stay upright the only sign this was anything but a pleasure cruise.

“We’re out of practice,” Regina insisted, pulling hard at the wheel as the men trimmed sail. Twenty-odd years in Neverland was a long time of no pirating, though she’d learned more about dealing with whiny teenagers than she had ever wanted to.

“We’re pathetic,” Marian corrected. Her first mate was right, of course, but she didn’t have to sound so smug about it.

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” Regina demanded.

“Going,” she said, and left to make her way to where the men were loading cannon for a second attempt at getting the merchant ship to surrender. They certainly hadn’t gotten off to a promising start.

**

They had taken the ship in the end. The other captain had tried to outrun her, but a laden merchant vessel was never going to get away from a maneuverable ship like the Jolly Roger, especially since she was also armed to the teeth. By the time they were back in position to fire another warning shot, the White ship had lowered their flag to indicate surrender. Well that was more like it.

Instead of firing now, they drew up alongside and grappled the two ships together. Neal, leading the boarding party, looked at her briefly and she nodded confirmation, so he drew his sword. Sometimes surrender was a ruse, so she always sent fighters first.

The wait was long and tense, Neal and Mulan holding the deck crew captive while Will, Billy, and Merlin led groups of sailors and searched from stem to stern.

“We’re clear, Captain,” Neal called at last. Regina drew herself up and did her best to radiate power as she made her way across to negotiate.

“I know who you are!” the other ship’s captain exclaimed when she stepped onto the deck. “You’re-”

 _Captain Hook_. She didn’t need to wait for him to say it. It had gotten quite old at this point. The previous captain of her vessel had worn the name, and when she’d deposed him people were so used to that being what the captain of the Jolly Roger was called that it just stuck, lack of pointy appendage be damned.

“Regina!” the man finished, startling the hell out of her.

The silence stretched out almost too long before she recovered. “And how do you know that, little man?” she asked, stepping forward to loom over him because he was just that small. A dwarf, Regina realized.

“I remember you! From before Sn-”

“That’s enough!” she said, cutting him off before he could finish. _Before your curse failed and Snow defeated and banished you._ “I actually don’t care.” Turning to the assembled crew, she raised her voice to carry. “Now that you have wisely surrendered, here is what will happen. We will take your cargo of-” She turned to Merlin for his report.

“Weapons, Captain. Headed to the war with King George, no doubt.”

Regina smiled. Finally, something going right. There was always a risk that it would be a hold full of wool or some such, which she could unload on the black market but would not be immediately useful. “We’ll take your cargo, disarm your ship, and you’re free to go. A beat. “If, however, you’d like to join the Jolly Roger, I can promise good pay and the satisfaction of knowing that you are a thorn in the side of the ruthless monarch Snow White.” They had a vacancy or two from the unfortunate run-in they’d had with Blackbeard last week.

“I’ll go,” another man said, as small as the first.

“And why would that be?” she asked. “I remember you, and him,” she tipped her head at the other dwarf who was the ship’s captain. “Weren’t you Snow’s little friends?”

“Accidentatllykilledabirdinarcherypractice.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I accidentally killed a bird in archery practice,” the man grumbled. “The sentence was death, which she stayed so that I could make this run for her, but if I go back I’m done for.”

“Wait, you killed a bird and so she was going to kill a _person_?” Tinkerbell broke in, incredulous. “That woman is every bit the whackjob you always said, Reg.” Regina’d had a lot of time to tell the fairy stories during twenty-odd years in Neverland.

“Is she _ever_ ,” Gepetto put in. “She didn’t even _need_ to send her baby through the magic wardrobe when Regina’s curse failed, but she banished me because I was going to send my boy through!” Seeing the dark look on Regina’s face, he went on quickly, “And then my boy and I joined up with Regina and found out she had been wronged!”

Regina nodded acknowledgement of his correction, then turned back to the dwarf and asked, “You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust one of Snow’s minions right away, won’t you dear?” her voice full of faux sweetness.

The man laughed. “I would expect it. You were always a smart one.”

She smiled. “You might do just fine. What’s your name?”

“Grumpy, Captain.”

She held out her hand. “Welcome to the Jolly Roger, Grumpy.” It said something that any White kingdom citizen would choose her given the propaganda job Snow had done after reclaiming the kingdom. Especially a dwarf who’d been one of Snow’s inner circle, way back when. Well, it just went to show that she was absolutely doing the right thing raiding any ship flying the White flag.

**

Regina brooded into her flagon of cider. The slipshod job they’d done of taking that ship had her feeling unsettled. She’d been the terror of the seas for five full years before falling through that damn portal to Neverland, and here she’d needed luck just to take a damn barge. She knew she shouldn’t wallow, and yet this darkness was all too familiar. It had been what drove her from Da- from Snow’s betrayal all the way until that moment her curse had flickered and died before her eyes like the father she’d sacrificed to make it happen.

Snow had found a way to cast her own spell, and Regina could use no magic on any citizen of the White kingdom. Then her life had become sheer panic and flight for several months, and where it should have given her compassion for what she’d put Snow through, it just made her angrier.

It also made her learn to fight by more conventional means. One day she’d found herself in a tavern where a ship’s captain had mistaken her for a lady of the night and she’d nearly killed him before his men had pulled her off.

But instead of taking his revenge, he’d just looked her up and down in a different way and asked, “I like that fire. How’d you like to join my crew, luv?”

He was a pirate, of course, and a very good one. She’d learned a lot from the first Captain Hook, quickly rising to be his second in command. But she just as quickly grew tired of his excesses of wining and wenching and the way he had no regard for innocents who might get in his way. The crew did not miss him and in fact helped her throw his body overboard. Then they had become what they were now, pirates who targeted only the merchant ships of tyrants. And today, she reminded herself, they’d had success. So they should celebrate, and had come to this tavern to do just that.

“Hey, Boss Lady!”

“Yes, Victor?” He was slimy but a crack shot with the broadside guns, so she kept him around, glad he spent most of his time below decks.

“Take a look at the broad who just walked in,” he said casually, tipping his head. “Do you see what I see?”

Regina looked without seeming to. The blonde woman was dressed in a peasant’s traveling cloak, but as she walked across the tavern it showed hints of fine cloth underneath. That was definitely a runaway noblewoman, and somebody would pay good money to have her home safely.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma knew it was risky to run away from her parents’ castle. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried it before—and, of course, been caught and brought back. She shook off that memory. That had been more than ten years ago, and she was much wiser this time. At her first chance she’d taken this cloak from a clothesline to hide her fancy dress and even realized she should leave a few pieces of gold wrapped in a handkerchief hanging in its place, because the fact that she was entitled to anything in the kingdom didn’t keep anyone else warm. She’d also wasted no time in getting across the border into the next kingdom where it would be that much harder for anyone to find her.

“What’ll it be, miss?” the innkeeper asked as she approached the bar, and his politeness made her smile that she’d made the right choice in this well-kept, homey tavern near the waterfront

“A cider and dinner, please.” She carefully extracted some copper from her pouch without showing the gold it also held, then retreated to a table in the corner, satisfied that she’d managed to navigate another common transaction.

Yes, this escape was much more successful than the last time, when she’d formed a youthful plot with that commoner man—what had his name been, Neal? In her defense, it had seemed like a good idea at the time. He didn’t treat her like the princess who could shatter at a look or have him killed in an instant and it felt so nice to be _seen_ that she’d made the rash decision to go to bed with him. In the morning, she had just enough time to realize he was gone before her parents’ soldiers were breaking into the little inn room and taking her back.

Security had been much tighter after that, and tighter still when time had made the consequences of her impulsive decision apparent. Before the truth was undeniable, her parents had shipped her off to the summer house in the woods “for her health.” When she returned, the baby boy she’d been forced to give up was never spoken of again, because no one would marry a princess who was not pure and her parents badly needed allies.

That had been what had sent her fleeing this second time, in fact. Her mother had declared that she’d had her freedom long enough, and now it was time to serve the kingdom by marrying a suitable royal man. They announced a huge ball to have her meet every eligible bachelor from neighboring kingdoms, and after a long night of anguished reflection she’d decided she would rather be a peasant than be married off to some pathetic king old enough to be her father.

“Mind if we join you?”

Emma looked up, startled, and saw three women standing near her table. They were smiling pleasantly and had their hands well away from the weapons they all noticeably wore. It was probably a terrible idea, but she hadn’t seen a friendly face in days and they clearly weren’t her parents’ soldiers. And really, women just seemed more trustworthy than men. She was smiling and gesturing to them to take the other seats before she had even consciously made up her mind.

**

The conversation turned out to be quite pleasant. The one called Mulan was a bit taciturn, but Tink and Marian more than made up for it, regaling her with stories of life traveling the world on their sailing ship. The person they called Captain sounded distinctly charming second-hand, always fighting for the downtrodden and standing up to the powerful. Emma found herself liking them all quite a lot, and feeling like her decision to have a conversation with them had been a good one. Before she knew it, the bartender was coming over to tell them that it was last call.

“Oh my,” she said, startled. “I need to get a room for the night.”

“Sorry, lady, we’re all booked up,” the man said. “You could try McGee down the way,” he suggested as he left the table.

“You could come with us to our ship,” Marian said, and there was something not quite casual in her tone that made Emma wary.

“That’s very kind of you, but I’m sure I can find space with McGee as he said.” And she should find it quickly, she realized, suddenly feeling exhausted and dizzy.

“We insist,” Mulan put in. “You need a place, and we have one.”

“I couldn’t,” she said, not quite firmly because the room was really swimming now.

“Then it’s a good thing I dosed your drink,” she heard Tink say as her eyes slid shut.

**

“That’s not just any noblewoman. She’s a princess!” The man’s voice was strangely familiar.

“How do you know?” a woman demanded, her voice sharp with command. Emma felt curiosity stir to see who it was, but felt too sick to even consider opening her eyes.

“I- we met- it must have been ten years ago? It was when _He_ sent me to this realm to do that thing.” That would explain why he sounded familiar, though she still couldn’t place him.

“Fine, whatever,” the woman said, irritable. There was a pause, and then she went on, thoughtfully, “Though a princess is even better. The ransom will be twice as much, easily. Royals are nothing without their insufferable brat heirs.”

Several people laughed at that. Where _was_ she?

“When is sleeping beauty over there going to rejoin us, Tink?” the woman asked. She thought Emma was beautiful? No, it had to just be a phrase.

“She’ll wake any minute now. I didn’t give her much,” Tink said, and Emma was torn between anger and relief at finally hearing someone she knew.

Well, she could lie here forever hoping they’d give up and go away after going to all this trouble to kidnap her, or she could draw herself up with the poise her mother had always insisted princesses should have and confront her captors. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked straight into a startlingly beautiful face. The face that had haunted her dreams.

“The Evil Queen!” she gasped.

The woman’s expression hardened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted, stepping back.

Emma sat up. “You are! Your face is in all the history books my parents gave me. Though,” she reflected, “you’re much more beautiful in person.”

The woman flushed slightly, clearly pleased. “Thank you.” Then she shook herself and demanded, “Who are your parents?”

Emma blinked, startled. “Queen Snow and Prince Charming, of course.”

“This is _Snow White’s_ brat?!”


	3. Chapter 3

“You couldn’t be bothered to mention which kingdom she came from?” Regina demanded, the door to her cabin slamming against the wall from the force with which she’d opened it.

“In the ten seconds between when I saw her and when she woke up?” Neal shot back as the senior staff followed her out onto deck, used to her moods by now.

“Regina, calm down,” Marian said. “I know you’re angry, but this is no time to do something rash.”

Regina chuckled as she sat down on the steps leading to the upper level and leaned back. “Who’s angry? I’m annoyed at Neal,” she said, gesturing dismissively, “but I couldn’t be more pleased that Snow White’s daughter has fallen into my hands. Finally, I’ll have my revenge.”

“You’re going to kill her?” Mulan asked, almost squeaking with surprise.

“Of course not,” Regina snorted. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.” The captain stared at her for a long moment in disbelief before continuing, “And anyway, that would be too clean.” She smiled. “I’m going to corrupt her.”

“Well, uh,” Neal said, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck, “about that. I kind of uh- got there already?”

“I could have lived my entire life without knowing that,” Merlin said.

“You and I both,” Regina agreed. “But I’m not going to _fuck_ her! Why would you think that?”

“Because she’s completely your type?” Marian asked from where she leaned against the cabin wall. “Like that dragon, and Tink, and that barmaid last week, and-”

“Enough!” Regina nearly shouted to stop it before her first officer could list any more women. “Okay, I have a thing for blondes. But this- _girl_ is the baby they tried to put through the wardrobe.”

“Well yeah, Reg, but didn’t we figure out that was 28 years ago? She’s certainly well grown.” Tink raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh my god,” Regina groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “We are _not_ having this conversation-”

“I don’t know, I think you seem pretty tense and could use a good tumble,” Marian muttered.

“That’s an order,” she added, because otherwise they’d never stop giving her a hard time. “What I’m going to do is show the precious princess that mommy and daddy are terrible people who make their subjects suffer. And then when I ransom her she will go home knowing everything they ever told her was a lie and never be able to look at them the same way again.”

**

“Rise and shine, Your Highness,” Regina said as she entered her cabin, careful to keep her voice pleasant. She needed the princess to trust her if her plan was going to work, and her little outburst the last time they’d been in the same room would not help in the slightest.

“That’s certainly an improvement on being called ‘Snow White’s Brat,’” the woman replied.

Regina swallowed back her sharp retort and said, “I’m sorry about that. My history with your mother isn’t the best, as you know.”

The blonde snorted in amusement. “That’s diplomatic. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? You’ve left me locked in here long enough.” While Mulan and Marian had come in periodically to provide for her basic needs, she’d been left mostly alone for two days as they sailed well away from where they’d found her to shake off any potential pursuit.

“It keeps you out of the way of the sailing,” Regina explained, leaning against the heavy wooden desk on one side of the small cabin. “It’s not a prison.”

“It’s not a prison? That’s rich.” She gestured around. “I’m locked in a room where literally everything is bolted down. I’m completely at your mercy.”

“Yes,” Regina agreed. “But that would be true no matter where you were, given that we’re many miles from land.”

“Then let me come out and see the sun and get some air,” the woman insisted. Then her wheedling tone turned into a taunt. “Unless you’re afraid of one little princess?”

Regina looked at her for a long moment, sizing her up. She was certainly a lot less simpering than she’d expected a daughter of Snow’s to be. She could almost befriend- She shook herself. “If you’re on deck, you’ll do exactly as you’re told, when you’re told, without question.”

The princess snorted.

“Fine, have it your way,” Regina said, standing to leave.

“Oh, come on,” the blonde said, half-whining now. “Why do you have to be so controlling?”

“Because the sea is nothing to take lightly,” Regina said firmly. “If you distract my sailors or get in their way at a crucial moment, we could all die.”

The blonde swallowed hard. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Very well then, you can come out-” She paused. “What _is_ your name, anyway?”

“Emma.”

**

“I see sail, Captain!” Pinocchio shouted down from his place in the crow’s nest. “Merchant ship.”

“Good boy. Banner?” Regina called.

“Keep your pants on!” He was physically about thirteen, but the extra twenty years in Neverland had aged him unevenly in a way Regina never could get used to.

The pause was long as they sailed closer, and closer, until it was in range. “Banner is White,” Pinnocchio called down.

“Here we go,” Regina murmured, then called out, “Gunners, in position!”

“Wait,” Emma said, “that’s one of my mother’s vessels?”

“You bet your ass it is,” Tink said.

“But-”

“We have work to do. Get below,” Marian cut her off, walking toward her to take her there by force if necessary.

“But-”

“Now!” Regina shouted. “Mar, lock her in so she’s out of the way.”

“I’ll go,” Emma said.

“You heard the captain,” the first mate said, taking her firmly by the arm.

Then Regina couldn’t spare them any more attention. They were coming up on Snow’s ship fast and it would be time to open fire any moment.

**

Emma wasn’t quite sulking when Regina entered the cabin a long while later, but it was a near thing. “Come on, Princess. See what your mother bought. It was probably for you anyway.”

The hold of the ship had been full of cloth. Regina had prioritized what she could carry-- the practical bolts of canvas and linen for her own use and the most expensive ones to sell in port.

Regina showed her a rich gold brocade. “People in your mother’s kingdom are wearing rags, but she’s ordering finery for royal balls.” Emma flinched. “What, can’t bear to hear criticism of your mother?” Regina taunted.

Emma’s jaw tightened. “The ball is to figure out which prince to sell me to for support. Probably someone old enough to be my father.” She scoffed. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“ _I_ wouldn’t understand?” Regina asked, remembering vividly spending years as the property of just such a man. How dare this little- she breathed through it. “What _do_ they teach you in those history books that supposedly have my face plastered all in them?”

“Oh!” Emma said, startled. She looked at Regina for a long moment as if she’d never seen her before. Perhaps she hadn’t.

Maybe she hadn’t quite seen Emma before either.


	4. Chapter 4

Emma could definitely do without getting locked in the cabin for long stretches. She didn’t like being anyone’s captive, least of all in a small room with nothing but a bed, a desk, and locked cabinets. And a whole crew worth of clothing to make.

“Did your fancy tutors teach you to sew, Princess?” the queen had taunted.

Emma had swallowed back her objection to the title and answered simply, “Of course.” This woman could have her killed at any moment, after all.

“Good,” she had said. “My sailors are in need of new clothes and I don’t have anyone to spare making them. You can start to earn your keep.”

“As if being here was my idea,” she muttered now, remembering it. At least sewing was something to do. The first few days she hadn’t had so much as a book.

She did have to admit that the crew had treated her well overall, even if encountering Neal again had been kind of awkward and she wished there was a chance to tell him he had a son out there somewhere. Regardless, it was possible she was better off here than aimlessly fleeing her mother. She was definitely better off here than married against her will.

That train of thought stopped her for a moment. This woman was her mother’s worst enemy, who had tried to kill her before she was even born! The Evil Queen! And she was glad to be here? She shook it off and assured herself that it said more about how desperate her life was than it did about Regina, really.

Regina. She knew her name, of course. Regina, the evil queen, now a pirate. Calling her by her name made sense, didn’t it? And that the little jolt she felt when she looked at her was anxiety. It couldn’t really be fascination. She just wanted to know her enemy. That was all. And so that made it completely legitimate that, when the captain had neglected to lock up her ship’s log the last time she’d come in to mark it, Emma should read it. To know her enemy.

“Where did you get that?!”

Emma started and looked up to see Regina standing over her. How did she not hear her come in?

“You left it out.” It was the truth after all.

“And so you went snooping through it?” Regina scoffed. “Your mother didn’t raise you well at all.”

“Sewing forty shirts isn’t exactly interesting, and you don’t have any books,” she shot back.

“I do, in fact,” Regina said. “But that’s beside the point. You thought you could not only shirk your duty but do whatever you like with my belongings?” Her eyebrow suggested she was unimpressed. “You’re a spoiled brat just like your mother.”

Emma knew she should control her temper, but was demanding, “Can you stop talking about my mother?!” before she could stop herself.

The smirk on Regina’s face made her loss of control even worse. “The truth hurts, dear.”

“I’m just trying to understand the person holding me captive!” Emma insisted. “I’m nothing like my mother. I would never sentence someone to death for killing a damn sparrow!” She had stared at that log entry for a long while, unable to make her mind grasp it. When Regina started laughing, she demanded, “What?!”

“You’re not at all what I expected.” The captain was shaking her head in amusement.

“And what did you expect?” She knew she shouldn’t care, and yet for some reason she was terribly curious what this woman thought.

“Your mother’s bad behavior didn’t serve a purpose and she wouldn’t have been bothered by anyone judging her. It was only about what she wanted and damn the consequences. Utterly self-centered.”

Regina’s tone was profoundly bitter, and it had Emma murmuring, mostly to herself, “She still is.”

“Because she’s marrying you off?” Regina was certainly quick-witted. “Then you should be glad to be with me, Princess.”

“There’s a reason I was far from home without my guards and available for you to kidnap, _Captain_ ,” she shot back. This woman was entirely too smug and some perverse loyalty made her need to insist on her parents keeping her safe, even though they surely weren’t acting like it when it came to her impending marriage.

“So you’re grateful?” Regina prodded, her tone gentler now.

“Maybe,” Emma conceded.

“Be that as it may, I can’t say I’d trust you not to knife me in my sleep yet.” The teasing tone was back.

“Are you planning to join me? Don’t think I don’t know that’s your bed.” While Regina was certainly gorgeous, Emma had no idea what had possessed her to say such a thing. She told herself the tiny crack in Regina’s smug expression was worth it.

“Not at all what I expected,” the captain muttered.

“Then maybe you should get to know me.” She didn’t know why she was pushing now either, except that it was definitely keeping Regina off balance.

“I have to get back to the wheel,” the captain said, not looking at her.

“Then take me with you. There’s no danger at this exact moment, is there?”

Regina looked at her for a long moment, then, to Emma’s complete surprise, nodded.

**

“Why did you become a pirate?”

“Why have you?” Regina shot back.

Emma blinked. “I haven’t.”

Regina’s eyes never left off scanning the horizon as she went on, as if Emma hadn’t spoken, “You were running from something but not to anywhere in particular, and a pirate captain appeared in your path and became a place to go, and you joined up.”

“No, I-” That only sounded a little bit like Emma, was Regina trying to tell her something?

She had just opened her mouth to press the point when the captain went on, conceding, “You didn’t come aboard by choice, but you haven’t objected at all.”

Emma was feeling more defensive by the moment. “You’re the one who pointed out we’re miles from land and I have no choice!”

“You sought out speaking to me when you could refuse,” Regina pointed out, looking at her now.

Now it was Emma’s turn to look away. “I was bored.”

“You invited me into your bed.”

“I did _not_ ,” she objected. “But even if I had, have you seen yourself?”

Regina smirked. “You’re not so bad yourself, Princess.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Em-ma,” she drawled. Emma fought back a smile.

**

It was a minor port town, not used for much beyond local trading and hardly able to support large ships or shipments. Emma knew of it like she knew every port in her mother’s realm, but she didn’t come here. Few did, and she supposed that was why Regina had chosen it to sell her ill-gotten wares. Mindful of teasing for being a sheltered princess, Emma did her best not to react to the piles of refuse in the street as she walked along with the captain. She was at least wearing sturdy boots and pants rather than the more decorative outfit in which she’d escaped the palace. Regina had looked her up and down—an appraisal that shouldn’t have made her heart beat faster—and then rummaged through the clothing supply.

“Here, put these on,” she’d demanded, silencing Emma’s objection with “Unless you want someone to knife you in the street for the gold they’ll assume you’re carrying.” She’d also handed over her own spare boots.

“Spare a copper?” a rough voice asked from a doorway.

Emma averted her eyes and would have kept walking, but Regina stopped. “You look like you could use more than a copper, friend.”

“Aye, lady. The nights are getting colder, after all.”

“That they are.” Regina looked at him for a long moment, and Emma watched her carefully. What was going on behind those brown eyes?

“Marian,” Regina said at last. “Make sure our friend gets a length of waxed canvas to wrap in before we leave port.”

“Aye captain,” the first officer answered, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.

“And for now,” Regina went on, a gold piece appearing in her hand seemingly out of nowhere, “something to buy a hot meal.”

“Thank you, lady, thank you,” the man said, surprised and grateful, his eyes glistening a bit. “How can I ever repay your kindness?”

“Pay it forward when you can.”

The man nodded.

Regina turned and continued walking, and Emma followed, bursting with curiosity about what she’d just witnessed. Her mother had always told her that beggars were lazy and that to give them handouts was to encourage dependency, but it had seemed cruel to her not to share their vast wealth. And here was Regina being generous even though she didn’t have nearly as much. Wasn’t she supposed to be evil?

“When I fled your mother, a price on my head and no way to defend myself, I got quite desperate,” Regina murmured, so quiet Emma had to step closer to hear. “Someone helped me. I never forgot it.”

All Emma could do was nod, her head swimming with knowledge that she could not make fit into her worldview.


	5. Chapter 5

Regina told herself she was watching Emma so closely because she wanted to see how her plan was coming along. The princess seemed to be beginning to understand the horrors that went on while her family lived in luxury. She certainly looked distressed by the poverty Regina had made sure to show her. But she wasn’t contemptuous the way Snow had always been. There was genuine compassion in her eyes, and Regina found herself opening up more than she’d intended. She needed to focus or she’d ruin the entire thing.

“Marian, take the princess back to the ship. I have some business to attend to.”

“But-” Emma objected.

“Do as you’re told, Princess,” she snapped, then turned so that she wouldn’t see the hurt cross Emma’s face at the title.

**

“What’s going on, Reg?” Tink asked.

“Nothing.”

The fairy snorted. “Don’t try that. You’re drinking like you’re trying to drown something.”

Too bad her woes could swim. “I’ve had a hard week,” she insisted.

“You’re full of shit.” Tink leaned in closer so she wouldn’t be overheard before continuing, “I haven’t seen you drink this much since I broke up with you.”

Regina’s jaw tightened. It had been years ago, but that didn’t mean the reminder was pleasant. They didn’t make any sense, anyway. They’d just been two people finding solace in each other while trapped in Neverland. It had taken a few months for Tink to get over her anger about Regina’s role in her being cast out from the fairies, of course. But it had been good to have someone around who knew her _before_ while she was trying to figure out how to _stop_ being the Evil Queen. They’d tentatively become friends again. Then one night they’d fallen into bed. That was good too, even if Tink never did tolerate Regina’s periodic brooding. In the end, that had been what drove them apart.

“Whatever. I’m going to talk to someone who has more personality than wet burlap,” Tink snarled. Regina just lifted the mug to her lips again.

**

Regina’s head hurt like hell, but the rest of her was strangely comfortable. The bed was soft, and so were the breasts pressed against her ribs.

Her eyes opened in shock and then shut again as she groaned in hangover agony. But it was enough to see blonde hair.

“R’gina?” her bedmate slurred, sleepy.

That was definitely Emma. Oh god. She’d come back from the bar dead drunk and gone to bed with Emma, who had been trapped in her cabin and unable to escape her. The pounding in her head intensified. She’d gone drinking to take her mind _off_ of Emma. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Emma pulled away. Of course she’d be horrified that Regina had forced-

“Sorry for snuggling you in my sleep. Bed’s not that big.”

What?

“Emma, I- I’m sorry for last night.” She forced her eyes open and tried to get up from the bed, only to flop back in agony.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Not- that- bad? “I didn’t like being stuck on the ship while you went out drinking, but I appreciated you apologizing when you got back.” Apologizing?

There was no help for it. “What, uh, happened last night?”

“You went out and got rip-roaring drunk without me. And then you came back and said you were sorry for abandoning me. Then you asked very politely if you could sit on my face.”

This groan had nothing to do with the pain in her head.

“It was cute,” Emma said. Regina groaned again. “You were also very polite when you took no for an answer given that I wasn’t about to take advantage of you in that condition.” Take- advantage-? Regina really hoped the hangover fog would clear soon because nothing was making sense right now.

But she had to find it all out, prompting, “And then what?”

“And then you told me to move over because this was your bed.”

Regina allowed herself to feel hopeful. “And then we fell asleep?”

“Then you looked at me for a long time and complained that I look too much like my mother. Something about my chin? Then that seemed to get you thinking about my mother. You explained that when you became captain at first your whole goal was to inconvenience my mother as much as possible, since you can’t use magic on anyone from her kingdom. Why is that?”

“That’s how she defeated me—why my curse didn’t work. I never did find out what she had to trade Rumpelstiltskin for it, though. Knowing him, something horrible like your firstborn.” She felt Emma stiffen beside her and wondered what that was about. “Is that all?”

Emma seemed to shake off whatever had distressed her. “I wanted to ask you what you had done after, if bothering my mother had only been your plan at first, but you fell asleep.” She looked at Regina hopefully.

Regina supposed she owed her something for the inconvenience of flopping down in her bed drunk. “Eventually, I started to realize that lots of people are suffering because their rulers are greedy. So I branched out to taking the ships of anyone who treated their subjects badly, and made a habit of giving back to the people to try to right those wrongs.” Seeing the expression on Emma’s face, she demanded, “What?!”

“I’m beginning to think my history books got you all wrong.”

**

“I feel like I should be helping,” Emma said. Regina was at the wheel, one eye on the horizon and the other on her crew trimming sail, and the princess stood beside her.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you don’t know the bow from the stern,” Regina teased. They were getting to be comfortable with each other now.

Emma scoffed. “I do, too.” Then, realizing Regina was giving her a hard time, she chuckled. “Teach me then, since you’re the Pirate Queen of the High Seas.”

Now it was Regina’s turn to laugh. “What a name.”

“You haven’t heard it? It’s one of your many epithets.”

“I do like a good epithet.” Glancing at Emma, she asked, “You really want to learn to sail?”

“Yes. I like to be helpful.”

“You would have made a magnificent knight errant, milady.”

That made Emma laugh. Regina found she liked her laugh. “I can only imagine how my mother would have taken that suggestion. It is nice to get to wear pants since I’ve been with you- I mean- on board. Here.” Clearly flustered, she tried to change the subject back. “Anyway, what are you doing right now? Teach me that.”

Catching herself grinning a bit too much at her, Regina focused on sailing too. “Navigation is a little advanced. You need to learn the fundamentals first.”

“Alright, then teach me.”

“I would love to, but I need to be at the wheel.” She thought for a moment, knowing somehow Emma wouldn’t press it. “I could assign a sailor,” she said at last. “Who do you know the best?”

The princess’s brow furrowed. “I mean, Neal, actually.”

“He mentioned you had a history when you first came aboard but I didn’t find out what. It’s not a problem between you, is it?”

“No, at least not on my part. I would like a chance to talk to him about- what happened.”

Regina felt a flicker of discomfort, but suppressed it and cheerfully said, “Neal it is, then.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @atomicheavybike for ship consulting (who I should have thanked long before now but was especially helpful in this chapter) and @emakaylee for helping me figure out how soon Emma could be separated from Henry and shipped home. They both gave me much more information than made it into the story directly.

Neal was a very good teacher, Emma quickly realized. He had her oriented to which mast and sheet were which and which line affected what within a short time. She was surprised by how _easy_ this was, considering. She did know him best, as Regina had asked, but she hadn’t really meant to request him. Their history was still hanging over her and she couldn’t quite figure out how to bring up what she needed to tell him. Not yet.

For now, she was practicing her bowline knot, muttering to herself, “the rabbit comes out of the hole, around the tree and then back down the hole again” to remember where the end of the rope went. Glancing up, she saw him looking at her with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“What?”

“I’m surprised you’re not mad at me.”

She blinked. “For what?”

He shuffled his feet and looked away. “We- you know- and then I disappeared without being able to say anything. I thought for sure you’d demand an explanation, but you haven’t.”

“It was a long time ago. And really, I was always glad my parents’ soldiers didn’t catch you. They would have- let’s just say it’s really good they didn’t.” She shuddered thinking about how angry her mother had been and what her sense of justice was like. “And then I was too busy dealing with the repercussions to think much about you either way.” After a moment she realized how awful that sounded. How awful it _was_. She had kind of been the selfish princess Regina had teased her about being, after all. “Sorry,” she added.

He brushed it off with a wave of his hand. “There were repercussions?”

She smiled. That his first thought was to worry about her was one of the things she had liked about him in the first place. He had seemed like such a genuinely good man. “My mother locked me up for months. And then-” She had to tell him. She really had to tell him.

“And then?” he asked gently.

“We all realized I was pregnant,” she said quietly, unable to meet his eyes.

He gasped. “I have a-”

“A son,” she confirmed, barely audible.

“Where is he?” Neal asked, quiet too.

She had to look him in the eye now, no matter how much she dreaded it. “I don’t know. We were separated immediately after he was born and as soon as I was recovered I was shipped back to my mother’s palace.”

“Wow,” he breathed.

“Yeah.”

**

“Damn it,” Emma muttered. She’d messed up the knot for a third time. It would help if she could keep her eyes off of Regina. But they kept straying, because the captain had been stiff and distant for days. Since she had started learning to sail, now that she thought about it. But she had seemed pleased that she wanted to learn?

She shook herself and had turned back to the rope when she heard “Storm! West by northwest!” shouted from Pinocchio, high in the rigging.

The sailors quickly started doing new tasks that must be toward preparing, and Emma looked around, confused about how she could help.  

“Get below,” Regina called out to her from where she held the wheel.

“I can help,” she insisted, rising and climbing the stairs up to her. “Just tell me what to do.”

“There’s nothing you know how to do,” Regina shot back, her voice tense. “We have to try to outrun it.”

Emma accepted that she was too new to be of any use, but she also couldn’t bring herself to leave deck when there was danger coming. She went to stand by the wheel near Regina, knowing from her earlier experience that that would keep her more out of the way than anywhere else. Regina raised an eyebrow at her disobedience, but didn’t say anything more.

They pushed the Jolly Roger as hard as she would go, but Emma watched for the better part of an hour as the storm got closer.

“Fuck,” she heard Regina mutter at last. “Okay girl, it’s up to you now,” she murmured, and when she caressed the nearest railing affectionately Emma realized she was talking to the ship. “She’s got us square in her sights,” she called out. “Batten the hatches and mount the storm sail. Mar, get the gunners on the bilges.” Marian nodded and went below.

“What now?” Emma asked quietly once Regina had stopped shouting orders.

“Now we try to run before the wind and hope we don’t catch a wave broadside,” Regina said, her face grim. Glancing over and seeing Emma’s confused expression, she explained, “We go with the wind. And you should go below,” and she held up a hand to forestall Emma’s refusal, “except that I know you won’t. Just hang on,” she commanded, pointing at the railing next to her.

Emma swallowed hard and did as she was told for once.

The wind hit first, and Emma felt the deck shudder a bit under her feet. That was scary, but not too bad. Until the rain started beating down on her, soaking her to the skin in no time. The cabin would be not only drier but warmer, but her pride wouldn’t let her admit it, and she was inexplicably unwilling to leave Regina.

Soon they were being tossed around by the wind and waves, and there was ominous creaking all around Emma as the timbers protested the abuse. Her grip on the railing tightened until her knuckles went white as she struggled to stay upright. How long could a storm this strong last? How long could the ship take a storm this strong?

“Come on girl, you can do it,” she heard Regina say beside her, all but inaudible over the storm. Regina’s relationship with her ship was more charming than anything had a right to be when everything was this terrifying.

There was a cracking sound, and another, and Emma couldn’t see through the storm to figure out what the problem was but she knew it could not be good.

But Regina knew. “Emma! Take the wheel!”

“What?!” That was kind of advanced, wasn’t it?

“Now!” Regina snapped. “All it needs is strength to hold it steady! Now or we all die!”

Emma stumbled toward her and grabbed the wheel. It pulled much harder than she expected as Regina let go and she tipped a bit off balance before she was able to right herself and hold it. Looking up, she saw Regina standing beside her, hands up and glowing purple. Magic? But what was she magicking?

Following the captain’s line of sight, she saw one of the masts glowing purple too. It was also at an odd angle, and she realized it must have snapped under the pressure of too much wind in the sails. As she clung to the wheel and struggled to keep it steady when her footing was so unsteady, she watched Regina’s magic guide the mast back into place, then the lines and yards that had been wrenched off. Despite everything, her eyes kept darting to Regina’s face as she did it, all concentration and determination and god, she was beautiful.

She didn’t know how long they stayed there, Regina reinforcing the mast so that it wouldn’t break again with one hand and clinging to the railing with the other, but gradually the rain and wind lessened, then stopped altogether. Regina tentatively lowered her hand.

The mast stayed up and she sighed with what Emma could only assume was relief. Then she watched as, hands on her hips, Regina surveyed the ship, checking in with the sailors for their damage reports. It sounded like they had come through alright—at least, other than the certain doom Regina’s magic had saved them from.

Regina huffed another sigh, this one sounding satisfied, then started a little when she glanced Emma’s way. “I half-forgot you were steering.”  

“So I did an okay job?”

Regina chuckled and opened the water-tight box in which she’d stored the chart and sextant. “We’ll see.”

Emma snorted in amusement, but watched her as she figured out their position.

“Well,” Regina said at last, “for being hit by one hell of a storm, we’re remarkably not that far off course.”

“Told you I could help.”

“Oh yes,” Regina said dryly, “it is completely because of you, my greenest sailor, that we held course in that storm. Well done.”

That stung. “I thought I did pretty well for my first time,” Emma muttered, looking down.

She was surprised to feel Regina’s hand on her arm. “You did,” the captain assured her, her face earnest. “I’ve seen experienced sailors panic in a blow like that, and you didn’t. And you kept the wheel steady. I was just teasing you.” She smiled.

Emma smiled back, and their eyes held.

Then Regina seemed to shake herself and stepped away, removing her hand. “As you were, sailor, she said stiffly.”


	7. Chapter 7

Regina had been bouncing with pent-up energy for a while now. The near-catastrophe in the storm had started it, but it was also all wrapped up in- _Emma_. Something about the woman had her distracted and looking too long and _touching_.

She needed to clear her head, and that meant swimming alongside the ship until she was exhausted. She just needed to get through getting her swimming clothes out of her cabin. So what if Emma was in there? It was fine. She was the damn captain and she could go into her own cabin.

It didn’t occur to her to knock until she was three steps in and Emma was squeaking and diving for the bedclothes to cover herself.

Her eyes fell to the bowl of steaming water on the table. Oh. Emma had been bathing. Emma was naked over there.

“Sorry,” she said, looking hard at the wood paneling on the other side of the small room. “Force of habit. I’m just here to get swimming clothes.” She moved quickly to the chest where they were kept, suppressing her intense curiosity about Emma’s body.

“It happens, I guess,” Emma said.

Silence fell as Regina searched through her clothing, because of course what she needed was not where she thought it should be.

“Regina,” Emma said.

Regina’s jaw tightened. Why couldn’t Emma make this easy? 

“Regina,” Emma said again when she didn’t get a response. “Why are you ignoring me?”

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry for averting my eyes from your nudity. How inconsiderate of me,” she half-snarled.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You have been strange and distant for days. Since I asked to learn to sail. What’s going on?” She wrapped the sheet carefully around herself and stood up.

“Nothing.”

“Come on. What’s the problem?”

“There’s not a problem,” she insisted stubbornly.

“Yes, there is. Why does it matter if I know how to sail? I’m still sewing the clothes for you like your good little pirate wench.”

“Not my wench,” Regina shot back, then snapped her mouth shut. What had possessed her to say such a thing?

“I am too yours- or, the ship’s- I mean-” Emma sputtered. “Why are we talking about whose wench I am?”

“No idea,” Regina deflected.

“You’re the one who mentioned it!” Emma scoffed, disgusted. “Forget it, I’ll ask Neal. Maybe he can explain since he knows you better.”

“And knows you best of all.” This was why she should be swimming. What was she doing?

“I mean, kind of-” Emma began, then stopped.

Regina winced as she saw her figure it out.

“You’re jealous,” Emma accused.

“I am _not_ jealous,” she said, much too quickly.

“No, you are,” Emma insisted, advancing on her now. “You got weird when I said I knew Neal best. Why?”

“It’s no business of mine if you want to rekindle your romance,” Regina said, finally finding her clothes and straightening to go.

“What romance? I rebelled against my parents, ran away, and had a fling with somebody because he was nice to me and it seemed like a good idea.” She snorted. “And then when they wanted me to marry I ran away again, because I don’t even _like_ men!”

Regina blinked, startled. “You don’t?”

“No! So I don’t want _him_.”

But there was an emphasis there, and Regina was shooting back “But you do want someone” before she could stop herself.

“Yes! You!”

“Me?”

“You! You and your stupid, sexy magic and quick mind and distracting tight pants and-”

“I- Oh.”

Emma was right near her now, close enough to touch, and their eyes caught. In the next moment they were kissing, hard and hungry and eager.

It was only when Regina’s hands touched the bare skin of Emma’s back that she came to her senses and stepped back. Except that with Emma’s hands on her, the press of their bodies was all that was holding up the sheet and then she was there, bare and beautiful and Regina couldn’t look away.

“My eyes are up here,” Emma teased, but her voice was gentle. Regina felt her face heat as she finally averted her eyes. “But I’m glad I can make you blush,” Emma added, stepping closer and cupping her cheek to make her meet her eyes again. She was silent for a long moment, then dropped her hand.

“I’m sorry for kissing you,” they both said at once.

“But I kissed _you_ ,” again at the same time.

“Wait,” Regina said, holding up her hands to forestall any more. “I wanted to kiss you. And you wanted to kiss me?”

“Yes,” Emma confirmed. “And in fact, I think we should do it some more.”

There was the imperious princess again. “You’re naked,” Regina pointed out.

“You proved once before that you’re able to control yourself.” Emma paused. “You know, I thought that was the alcohol talking. I didn’t think you could actually be interested.”

“It _was_ the alcohol because I’d never be so crass,” Regina insisted. “Even though-” she added when she saw Emma’s face fall a bit, “You’re very beautiful.”

“But,” Emma prompted. “I hear a but.”

“But I have to take you back. And we both know the value of noblewomen is in being untouched.”

“That ship has sailed,” Emma said, grabbing the sheet and wrapping it around herself before sitting on the bunk. “And you don’t _have_ to take me back.”

“What, you’ll just stay on my ship forever?”

“Running away from your problems to sea worked pretty well for you,” Emma pointed out.

Regina scoffed. “I was running from certain death.”

“Weren’t you the one who reminded me you were married off to someone old enough to be your father?” Emma’s tone was pleading now. “Don’t send me back to that. Even if you don’t want to keep kissing me.”

Regina suddenly remembered vividly riding hell bent for leather toward the border of Leopold’s kingdom, only to have her mother use the very trees against her, and her heart ached in sympathy. “Alright.”

“Alright, you’ll kiss me, or alright, you won’t send me back?”

“Alright, I won’t send you back.” Seeing the disappointment on Emma’s face, she added, “Which makes it possible to kiss you again, perhaps.” She paused. “But if we’re not ransoming you, I’m taking my cabin back.”

Emma’s brow wrinkled adorably in confusion. “Wait, where have you been sleeping?”

“Now she asks,” Regina said dryly.

“Sorry, being kidnapped is distracting,” Emma shot back.

Regina chuckled. She liked this woman’s quick wit, that was for sure. “I’ve been sharing with Marian.”

“Would I need to share with Marian? She’s nice and all, but I don’t know her all that well.”

“I don’t think she’d have you,” she teased. “But to be quite honest I don’t know what to do with you. It’s not like this is a passenger vessel.”

“I guess I could sleep on the floor in here? There’s space between the desk and the wall.”

Keeping Emma that close was probably not the best idea even if they _were_ going to be doing more kissing, which she hadn’t even decided, but there wasn’t a better one. She nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted January 19, 2018. Revised February 15, 2018.

Getting ready for bed that night was awkward, to say the least. The cabin was not spacious because nothing on a ship was, and in the close quarters they moved uneasily in each other’s presence despite having kissed passionately earlier. Or maybe it was because of that. Emma knew that she was more aware than ever of her attraction to Regina. Her body was definitely aware of Regina’s presence, her body heat as they brushed past each other giving her a pleasant tingle. Emma was not looking forward to sleeping on the floor, but it was probably for the best because she didn’t know if she would have gotten any sleep with Regina’s enticing body next to her.

“Well, good night then, she said at last.

“Good night,” Regina murmured. She was leaned over the desk writing today’s log, and she was so beautiful in profile, her hair falling around her face, that Emma quickly turned her back to lay down before she did something stupid like kiss her again.

Emma’s enthusiasm for this arrangement dimmed even further as she actually got down onto the floor. They had rigged up a few bolts of the canvas as a pallet, and it was definitely softer than the wood of the deck would have been, but she could tell already she’d be sore in the morning. She let out a little sigh, but quickly stifled it. She didn’t want Regina to think she was ungrateful.

“Oh, get in here.”

Startled, she turned over to look at Regina, who was sitting on the bed now, shaking her head at her.

“I’m not complaining,” Emma insisted.

Regina snorted. “Technically, no, but- Come on. I would feel guilty making you sleep down there while I’m comfortable. We’ll be fine.”

Emma didn’t wait for her to ask twice. As she settled in next to her on the bunk, she reminded her buzzing nerves that this was for sleeping. Nothing else.

“Good night,” Regina said again, and then gestured out the lantern.

**

It wasn’t like Emma hadn’t had women lovers before, stolen moments with other noblewomen that everyone politely pretended never happened, but somehow Regina’s pussy was so exquisitely better, so hot and slick when she finally lowered her hips to Emma’s mouth that all she could do for a moment was moan against her. But then she started to touch, to stroke her tongue over every bit of her, trying to memorize the taste and feel of her, reveling in how good she felt. To get to finally touch her was amazing, and hearing her moan enjoyment as her hips worked to meet her tongue was even better, but when she looked up and saw the ecstasy on her face, that seemed best of all.

“Yes! More!” Regina demanded, her hand reaching down to grip Emma’s hair as she started to really ride her mouth now.

Emma switched to fluttering her tongue on her clit, loving how it was soft and firm all at the same time, loving how this pulled the most delicious sounds from her throat. Regina’s motions got shorter and sharper as her pleasure built, and knowing she was close Emma wrapped her arms around her thighs and her lips around her clit and sucked hard.

“Emma, Emma, Emma.” Regina was racing toward orgasm, and it was going to be spectacular, and-

“Emma!”

Abruptly Emma was awake, and Regina was leaning over her, but not the way she just had been.

“Are you alright? You were moaning in your sleep.”

Oh shit. “Uh- yeah, I, um- fine.” When she had accepted Regina’s offer to share the bed, Emma had definitely not counted on having a vivid sex dream.

Regina lit the lantern with her magic. “Are you sure? I was only awake at the end but it sounded intense.”

Emma squirmed a bit, because the wetness between her thighs told her it was very intense indeed.

“A nightmare?” Regina prodded.

“The opposite,” Emma snorted, then winced. She was too sleepy to keep her guard up.

“What does that mean?” Regina demanded, half-asleep herself. Then Emma watched as she caught up. “Oh. Well this is awkward. I feel like I’ve violated your privacy.”

“Back at you.”

“Me?” Regina gave a small smile, like she didn’t quite believe it, and Emma felt- _something_ in her chest.

“Yes _you_ , you impossibly sexy-” Emma groaned and closed her eyes. She should be banned from speaking. Immediately and forever.

Regina chuckled. “At least your dream mind decided I was a good lover.”

“My dream mind remembered that you wanted to sit on my face, actually.”

“Oh,” Regina breathed, and was that interest?

Emma decided to go for it. “And it would be a lot easier to take care of the situation that caused if we weren’t sharing a bed.”

“You would- yourself- you enjoyed it that much?” Regina sputtered a bit with surprise.

“Best sex I ever had,” Emma said, sincerely.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Regina said, her voice dropping into a purr. Then she kissed Emma.

Emma made a little “Mmph!” of surprise, but when Regina started to pull back she wrapped her arms around her to keep her right there. She’d kissed Regina before, of course, but now it was intentional—and now she could savor it. Regina’s kisses, for all they’d been sudden, were slow and deliberate. If Emma hadn’t already been wet, she would have been in almost no time because Regina’s mouth was demanding and her tongue was nimble.

Soon Regina was shifting to press completely on top of her, and the weight of her felt exactly right. Emma immediately started running her hands over every bit of her she could reach, keeping them flat and her touch easy at first, resenting the nightgowns between them but also knowing it was the only thing keeping her from moving much too fast—more than this was already too fast. Her fingers traced Regina’s sides, and her hips, and then she couldn’t resist that perfect ass. Gripping it brought a pleased sound so she did it again before leaving one hand there and sliding the other back up to cup a breast.

They continued like that for a while, kisses and touches that were easy becoming intense, hips starting to rock until one of Regina’s legs was slipping between hers, rucking her nightgown up.

Regina let out a startled moan at discovering her wetness. “You _did_ like that dream.”

“Did I ever. But you’re right that this is better.”

“Of course I am,” she teased. “Shall we get out of these clothes?”

“Yes, please.”

Regina sat up and they each slipped their nightclothes off, leaving them bare, and Emma just stared. Regina had seen her naked earlier, but this was her first time looking at what those tight leather pants and fitted shirts had promised. Regina seemed to glow in the lantern light as Emma’s eyes roved over strong thighs and a narrow waist and small breasts that, yes, fit perfectly in her hands when she reached up to cup them, with taut nipples she wanted desperately to suck.

“I take it you like what you see.”

“God,” was all Emma could say as she coaxed Regina forward and up so that she could wrap her lips around the nipple she was stroking with her fingertips.

They both moaned when she made contact, and Regina tried to grip her head but couldn’t because it was against the bed. With a little frustrated huff, she rolled off onto her back and said, “Come.”

“Not yet,” she sassed.

Regina raised an unimpressed eyebrow, but was clearly fighting back a smile at Emma’s silly joke, which lasted all the way until Emma pressed on top of her and sucked her nipple into her mouth again, when it became a moan. Emma fluttered her tongue over Regina’s nipple and then gave her teeth, switching back and forth, her fingertips rolling the one her mouth had left. Regina’s hand easily cupped the back of her head now, and was tangled in her hair immediately, holding her where they both wanted her.

But before long Regina’s hand in her hair started to pull, down to where her dream mind had very clearly told her she wanted to be--not that her waking mind had any objection. She kissed her way down Regina’s body and settled between her thighs, looking up at her and smiling because this was the best thing she could imagine.

“I like your smile.”

“But?” Emma could hear it in her tone.

“But get your mouth on my cun- ohh-”

It took every bit of self-control Emma had to go slowly, to explore every curve and plane and texture of her, because this wasn’t the time to rush, as much as she wanted to take Regina completely apart. Slowly, very slowly, her tongue centered on Regina’s clit, circling it softly but intently.

“God, Emma, more.”

Emma grinned, then groaned when Regina grabbed her hair again and pushed her mouth into her pussy. But then she did as she’d been told, fluttering her tongue quickly and then starting to suck when Regina’s hip motion became more erratic, wrapping her arms around her thighs just as she had in the dream, keeping her tight against her mouth so that she could give her more- more- more-

Then Regina was coming, her body arching as she let out a low moan, and damn she was beautiful.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted January 26, 2018. Updated February 16, 2018.

“That was- unexpected” Regina said, stroking Emma’s cheek with her fingertips as she tried to regain her breath.

“Yeah, not what you necessarily signed up for when you invited me into your bed, sorry,” Emma said, averting her eyes.

“Yes, it certainly is, at least eventually, but I thought I would have to teach you. Wherever did you learn to tongue a woman like that? I thought princesses were locked away from living.” She certainly had been watched and controlled every moment as queen.

“The assumption that my chastity would be safe in the company of other noblewomen gave me a lot of freedom,” Emma explained, grinning at her now.

“Lucky for me,” Regina purred, then coaxed her upward as she rolled them over and settled on top again. Her thigh made contact where Emma was impossibly wetter than before and they both moaned.

“My turn,” Regina said, sliding her hand down between them to cup and rub and squeeze at Emma’s cunt.

“Yes!” Emma hissed.

“There’s my good girl,” Regina said, teasing Emma’s opening with her fingertips now.

“God, Regina, yes, please.”

“Please what?” she teased.

“Please touch me.”

The forthright request was as unexpected as everything else about this encounter had been, and it sent a jolt of desire through Regina just like Emma’s other surprises had.

They both groaned as she pushed inside with two fingers. Though she knew Emma was very ready, Regina started a slow, deep motion, wanting to take her even higher before she sent her over the edge.

Emma did not wait long before insisting, “More.”

“More, what?” Regina demanded.

Emma moaned at that, but then demanded right back, “Harder- faster- more fingers, all of it. Just make me come!”

And though she was surprised, again, Regina did, adding a third finger and her thigh behind her hand to completely take Emma. She kissed her hard at the same time, fucking her mouth with her tongue as she fucked her cunt with her fingers.

Soon they were gasping and moaning into each other’s mouths. Regina gave her more and more as she felt her body tense, glad that the bunk was built into the cabin wall because a normal bed would have been objecting by now. She was damned if Emma wasn’t going to come so hard she saw stars.

Then Emma’s orgasm washed over her, her cry muffled into Regina’s mouth.

Regina felt quite pleased with herself as she eased her fingers out and shifted to curl up with her head on Emma’s still-heaving chest.

Emma chuckled. “What’s that face for?”

“I’ve still got it.” Regina half-shrugged.

Emma chuckled. “Were you in doubt?”

“It’s been a while,” she admitted ruefully.

“Oh?”

“Women were in short supply in Neverland.” She was tracing shapes on the skin of Emma’s belly now, watching goosebumps rise in her wake.

“Is _that_ why you haven’t aged?”

“Never ask a lady her age,” Regina teased.

“Oh come on, Regina, you were an adult when my mother was a child, and she’s in her fifties.”

“I was _not_ an adult,” Regina snapped, pulling away as she remembered being a girl who loved horses and felt the first stirrings of love, and then-

“Hey, come back to me,” Emma coaxed, stroking a warm hand over her arm and shoulder, but not trying to pull her closer, which Regina appreciated. “I’m sorry, you’re right, a teenager. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“No, it’s alright,” she answered, willing it to be true. “You were making a point that I should be at least sixty. Which I am, except I’m not.”

“Because you were in Neverland,” Emma finished, bringing them back to the point.

“Yes. Time is hard to keep track of there, but as near as we can figure, about twenty-five years passed in this realm.”

“We?”

“The whole crew was with me. Except Grumpy- which you know because you are nosy and read my log,” she chuckled, tapping Emma’s nose for emphasis.

“What was it like? Other than short of women?”

Regina’s smile at Emma’s quick mind and her teasing faded quickly, and she tucked her head against Emma’s shoulder again, wanting the comfort. “Dark,” she said. “As in, perpetually night. Filled with violent boys who cried themselves to sleep.”

“That sounds like a horrible place to spend a quarter century,” Emma said, rubbing her back and tucking the bedclothes more tightly around them both.

“It was,” Regina agreed. “I was _very_ glad when Neal figured out how to trap Peter Pan’s shadow and escape.”

“Wait, Neal? Neal was there with you? But he was here, meeting me, ten, eleven years ago.”

“About that time, Peter Pan came and demanded that one of my crew come here and do- _something_ for him. Neal volunteered. He was forbidden to tell us what it was, and by the time we finally left Neverland I’d forgotten all about it.” She paused. “But now I’m wondering if it’s not time to ask.”

“Oh man, Neal,” Emma breathed. “That’s going to be weird.”

Regina blinked. “What is?”

“Well, I mean, he’s part of your crew, but he and I, you know, once and now you and I have, you know, once-”

“Hopefully not only the once,” Regina teased.

“Yeah?” Emma asked, so uncertain that Regina felt a little twinge for her.

“Emma we’re having an intimate conversation and _cuddling_. That doesn’t strike me as shouting that this is a one-time thing.”

“Oh,” Emma said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “So, uh, what does that mean? The options for me were always sneaking some pleasure where I could or being betrothed, and I don’t think this is that either.”

Regina chuckled, then caught Emma’s chin in gentle fingers when she ducked her head in embarrassment. “My first lover used the word ‘lover’ and I have just kept it. It’s old fashioned but then so is she.”

Emma’s whole face lit up with her smile. “Lover. I like that.”

**

The next morning when they were all on deck, Regina called Neal over.

“G’morning, Captain, Emma,” he greeted. “What’s up?”

Regina cut right to the chase. “I’m realizing I never learned what you were sent to this realm to do ten years ago.”

Neal swallowed, his eyes darting to Emma.

Regina scoffed. “You already told me you two have a history, remember? But I’m fairly certain you weren’t sent to impregnate her, so I can’t imagine it’s relevant.”

“No- no- absolutely not,” he insisted, eyes wide as he turned to Emma to assure her. “That was just luck that we met and liked each other.” Emma nodded acknowledgement and he looked back at Regina. “I was sent to find a boy.”

“A boy? Pan was up to his eyeballs in boys!”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Captain. I just had a picture and a name.”

“What was the name?” Regina demanded.

“Henry. Why?”

“That’s what I named my son,” Emma breathed.

“That was my father’s name,” Regina said in the same moment.

Regina turned to stare at Emma.

“He always sounded so nice in the stories,” the princess said quietly, looking away.

“You named your son after my father?” Regina asked, feeling a little twinge in her chest. She shook it off, “And you-”

“No,” Neal insisted. “It’s gotta be a coincidence. The kid in the picture I had was ten, give or take. Pan didn’t send me to capture a boy that wasn’t even conceived yet! He couldn’t!”

“No, he couldn’t,” Regina agreed. But something about it made her unsure.

**

Emma was pensive all day, and as they got ready for bed that night Regina realized she’d have to ask.

“Emma, talk to me.”

Emma shook her head.

“No, come on,” Regina insisted. “You’ve been off ever since we talked to Neal. What’s going on?”

“I just- it’s all weird.”

“Weird?” she prompted gently.

“It’s not that I’ve never thought about my son since I lost him. I do from time to time. His birthday. Mine. Randomly. But now, ten years after he was born, into my life comes the man who fathered him, the woman whose father he was named after, and-” she trailed off.

“And a story about a malevolent teenager hell-bent on acquiring a boy with the same name,” Regina finished for her. “It’s a lot, I agree.”

“I know it’s just a coincidence. It would be way too bizarre otherwise. But I do feel like maybe the fates are telling me it’s time to find my son. Will you help me?”

Regina just looked at her for a long, long moment. It was a terrible idea. She barely knew this woman, and she wanted her to go on some quest? A quest that would probably mean setting foot in the heart of Snow’s kingdom before all was said and done? It was incredibly foolish to even consider it, especially for no clear gain other than finding some child. And yet, she was startled to find she couldn’t say no to that face.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted February 2, 2018. Revised February 18, 2018.

“Okay, where are we going?” Regina asked the next morning. “Before I gather the senior staff, I want a clear plan to present to them.”

Emma felt dread wash over her. Geography was never her strongest subject. “It’s in my mother’s kingdom somewhere?” At Regina’s raised eyebrow, she went on, “If you have a map I can spot it.” She hoped.

Regina got out her large sheaf of maps and charts and paged through it until she found the one she wanted. She set it down on her desk and looked up at Emma.

Emma peered carefully at the map, grimacing to herself when she saw that it showed the contours of the land and not the boundaries of the nobles’ territory like the ones she was more familiar with. She racked her brains to try to remember. She’d had had a lot of time to think spending the last few months of her pregnancy at the country estate, and about the fifth time Granny had caught her in the library staring at a map of the kingdom and trying to reconstruct how long the coach had traveled and what the terrain had been like to figure out where she was, the old woman had sighed.

“Fine,” she’d said. “We’re here.” She touched a spot on the map. “It will do you no harm to know it, since you’re in no shape to run away at the moment. Nor could you come back later since your mother will never let you out of her sight again and the babe won’t be here but a few days after it’s born.”

Emma turned the map once, and tilted her head, and another 90 degrees, muttering to herself “Granny was there, and I was across from her, and so it must have been-”

“There,” she said at last, pointing to an area near the base of the Snowy Mountains.

“Okay, then,” Regina said, leaning in to look. Emma tried to ignore how much more aware her body was of her presence after the previous night. “Then the closest port is Oak City. That’s not ideal.”

“No?”

“It’s not as out of the way as I would like, but the alternative is traveling farther overland. The good news is I may still have contacts there.” Meeting Emma’s eyes, she said, “Let’s go tell the crew.”

**

“Are you crazy?” Tink demanded. “This is your doing,” she insisted, turning on Emma with a glare so fierce she took half a step back involuntarily.

“Yes, Emma asked for my help finding her son,” Regina said, steel in her tone, “but I’m perfectly capable of choosing whether to do it.”

“And I’m coming with you,” Neal insisted, looking between Emma and Regina.

Emma’s first instinct was not to want him to come—possibly because she wanted Regina to herself—but she realized the two of them couldn’t really undertake something like this alone. And Neal did have a personal investment in all of it. She nodded. Then she turned back to Regina. This was her meeting.

“So Emma and _Neal_ and I will be taking a little trip,” Regina said, picking up smoothly. At Tink’s skeptical snort, she insisted, “It should be simple. Go to the place where Emma last saw the boy and trace his whereabouts from there.”

“Famous last words,” Marian muttered.

“Come on, Mar,” Regina coaxed.

“Oh I’m coming, alright.”

“Wait, what? No,” Regina sputtered. “Who will be in charge here?”

“Tink, probably,” Marian said, waving off the question. “I’m going. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”

“Alright, “Regina sighed, clearly knowing this wasn’t a fight she was going to win. “But no more. If the party gets any bigger we’ll start to attract attention.” She looked around at the rest of the leadership of her ship, Mulan and Merlin and Tinkerbell, and they each nodded agreement, though none of them looked happy about it. “Good,” she said quietly, and then raised her voice to carry to the rest of the crew, calling out the orders needed to change course. Then she turned back to Emma. “Well, off we go.”

**

“Would you stop pacing!” Emma snapped, harsher than she meant to. Being back in her mother’s kingdom had her unable to stop thinking about getting caught and sent back to some awful marriage and she was on edge.

Regina glared at her and flopped down on the bed with a huff. They had rented a room at the very first inn that they came to along the waterfront in order to get both Regina and Emma out of sight until they could procure disguises. Emma’s face was posted everywhere with a reward for her safe return, and there were still a few wanted posters of Regina here and there, even after all these years. It would be easy if Regina could glamour them, but her magic would not confuse the eyes of any of Snow’s subjects, nor work on Emma at all. But now they had been cooped up here for what felt like hours, and starting to grate on each other.

Then Emma remembered that for all she was worried being here, Regina faced a literal death sentence. In her place she’d do much more than pace.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently. “You can pace. If I feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin, I can’t imagine what it’s like for you being here. You’re in so much danger in my mother’s kingdom and it’s all my fault you’re even here and I’m so sorry and-”

Regina had crossed the room and was kissing her, firm enough to shut her up but still somehow gentle.

“What was that for?” she asked when they parted.

“For caring about me.”

“Not to shut me up?”

“That too,” Regina said with a little grin.

“Better do it again or I’ll-” she laughed into the kiss as Regina did. The kisses were slow and easy now, just appreciating the time to be near one another. It felt soothing somehow, because if they had to be in mortal peril at least they had each other. Before long they were on the bed, Emma seated on the edge and Regina straddling her lap, kissing like the world might end any moment—which maybe it would.

“Hey Regina, we got the hair dye and the makeup and woah-”

As they scrambled apart, they saw Neal in the doorway, followed closely by Marian.

“Hi,” Emma said, lamely, straightening her clothing and trying to look casual. “So, uh, you got the stuff?”

“What the fuck?” Neal asked. He looked between them several times, then turned to Marian, who had shut the door behind them and was leaning against the wall smirking at all of them. “Why aren’t you freaked out about this? Did you know?”

“Not as such, but why else would we be on this wild goose chase?” she answered, matter-of-fact. At Regina’s look, she insisted, “This is fucking insane, Regina, and you know it. But I know by now not to get in the way of your heart.”

Regina glowered at her, but all she said was, “Let’s do those disguises.”

**

Regina might have missed her calling by not going into the theater, Emma mused as she looked at her reflection in a bit of polished metal. She looked so different that it was almost disturbing to her, her blonde hair now much darker and the contours of her face changed so dramatically she didn’t know how it was possible.

She turned back to watching Regina haggle with a trader over how much he wanted to charge them for horses and supplies. She looked startlingly different too, and Emma tried not to dwell on how familiar Regina’s face was to her now that that change affected her as much as it did. Even with the natural symmetry of her face disguised, she was still captivating to watch, polite but firm as she talked the man into accepting much less than his initial price, and Emma felt that if she hadn’t already been fascinated by this woman she would have adored her just from this display.

Finally, a deal was struck and the man outfitted them with four horses and supplies to last two weeks. Neal and Marian had the horses saddled and packed by the time she and Regina exited the tavern after the customary cup of wine to seal the deal, and they were away in short order.

Fifteen minutes down the road, Neal said, “That was a damn good price. How did you manage?”  

“There are stories about what happens when you cheat Captain Hook,” Regina said, her expression dark.

“You wouldn’t hurt him?” Emma asked, aghast.

“Of course not,” Regina insisted. “But he doesn’t need to know that.”

**

Though Oak City was the closest port to their destination, they still had several days of riding to reach it. Fortunately, the weather was fine, and, while Regina, Neal, and Marian took turns being outriders ahead and behind, Regina and Emma found themselves riding alongside each other often, falling into easy conversation about whatever topic struck them. Today, Regina had just traded places with Neal.

“I’m not sorry to see him go,” Emma confided quietly. “He has been acting a little strange since finding out you’re- we’re- you know, lovers or whatever.”

Regina chuckled. “You still stumble over saying it. Not having second thoughts?” she teased.

“Not at all. It is just an awkward-feeling word.” She paused, then decided to be daring and indulge her curiosity. “Tell me about the woman who taught you to use it.”

“I went in search of a powerful sorceress,” Regina explained. “To teach me how to get revenge on your mother,” she added with a wry smile. “She could have struck me dead where I stood for bothering her, but I think she was pleased to be appreciated. She agreed to teach me magic, and we became friends. And then, as things do sometimes, it became more. It was quite the awakening, but she was also the only love I had for many, many years.” Her voice had gone sad and pensive.

“What happened?” Emma asked.

“It wasn’t enough for me. I was too obsessed with my revenge and as I spiraled into darkness she quite reasonably didn’t want to come with me. She tried to stop me from casting the curse, too.” She shook herself and smiled at Emma. “We had fun for a number of years, and I remember her fondly.”

**

“I will reiterate that this is insane,” Marian muttered as they crouched at the edge of the clearing. There was a wide grassy expanse that they’d have to cross before they got to the large but rustic country estate that was their destination.

Regina hissed at her to be quiet, and Emma agreed wholeheartedly. She was nervous enough without the reminders of the risk they were all taking to find her son. There was also a risk that this was a dead end, but it was the only lead they had. Granny had died a few years ago, but Red had taken over as the steward of this estate, and maybe she would have some answers.

Emma saw Regina look at Marian, and then at Neal. Then she made some hand motion almost too quick to see and they were off, melting into the underbrush at either side. They would circle around behind the large house, and once they had confirmed that there were no surprises waiting they would signal Regina.

“Magic mirror is a little on the nose, isn’t it?” Emma whispered.

“What?” Regina asked distractedly. Her eyes never stopped moving as they took in their surroundings for any sign of trouble.

“Magic mirrors,” she explained. “The ones you gave Neal and Marian. It’s kind of a cliché about you, right?”

Regina gave a little amused snort. “I don’t fix what isn’t broken,” she whispered back. Then she turned pointedly back to the clearing to keep an eye out, and Emma took the hint.

Emma dropped her hands to her sides, and her knuckles brushed against Regina’s as the captain did the same. She wasn’t sure who had initiated it, only that in the next moment their hands had slid into one another, fingers twining—and that she immediately felt much more able to face whatever came their way.

A long silence fell, until at last Regina murmured, “That’s the signal. Let’s go.”

**

“I always thought you were smart, Regina.”

In the next instant Regina had a fireball in one hand and her sword in the other. Emma’s eyes darted around, but the sun was so low now that it didn’t illuminate the manor house’s entryway, and the fireball’s light didn’t travel far.

Then came the strike of a match and Emma saw Red at the other end of the hall lighting the lantern she was holding. She was much older than when Emma had seen her last. Too much older, as if the years had not been kind to her.

“Oh put that thing away,” Red said with a sigh. “You know it can’t hurt me or anything here.” When Regina didn’t comply, she went on, “Don’t try to pretend. I know who you are. I may not change anymore, but my nose is still all werewolf. They _are_ good disguises, I’ll concede.” She dropped a slight bow to Emma, murmuring, “Your Highness,” but never took her eyes off of Regina.

Regina grumbled under her breath, but extinguished the flame. She kept the sword in her hand, however.

“Neither of you should have come here,” Red said.

“Kind of you to look out for us,” Regina said sarcastically.

Red snorted a little laugh. “You might not believe it, but I am. I could be rich beyond my wildest imaginings if I turned either of you in, let alone both.”

“That sounds like you won’t,” Emma realized.

“No, I won’t.”

“Why not?” Regina demanded.

“Because you were always right about Snow.”

**

There wasn’t much to do but trust her, Emma realized as well as anyone else. And so Red had made them all tea—Granny had been a stickler for hospitality and apparently it had stuck—and taken them into the house’s cozy, private sitting room. An uneasy silence fell for a few moments.

Finally, Regina spoke. “What did you mean, I was right about Snow?”

“When you publicly denounced her and put a price on her head, you said she was plotting to seize power. The whispers in your propaganda network—you always had such a good propaganda network—were about betrayal and persecution lists and iron-fisted discipline.” She paused to take a sip of her tea. “It was all bullshit. Until it wasn’t.”

Emma’s brow furrowed. Her mother hadn’t always been that way?

“She was alright, the first few years,” Red went on. “She had you as a foil. But when you vanished?” Her chuckle was bitter. “Without a real enemy she started seeing enemies everywhere. She never much trusted magic, but gradually it became the sign of association with you. You were the perfect excuse because you were a phantasm—perfectly flexible for whatever she wanted to target.”

“Like werewolves,” Regina murmured, perceptive as always.

Red nodded. “Like werewolves.”

“What happened?” Regina asked, her voice gentle now.

“Compulsory magic registry,” Red spat. “First, just those who had committed crimes. But later, it expanded to anyone considered to be predisposed to violence. By the end even fairies and dwarves were rounded up to get their papers.”

Regina turned to Emma, wide-eyed.

Emma answered the unspoken question. “I don’t remember a time before that was the law.”

Regina looked back at Red. “Even you?”

“I was _fortunate_ ,” and the bitterness in her tone said otherwise. “I—and my grandmother—had a choice. Register, or stay in the cloak forever.”

“Which wasn’t much of a choice at all,” Regina agreed. She added, “I’m sorry,” but her expression suggested it was because she didn’t know what else to say.

“I mean, it _is_ your fault, but it isn’t. Snow would have been selfish and obsessed with her own power with or without you.”

Regina nodded acknowledgement.

The room fell silent for a long moment. Emma’s mind raced with the knowledge that her mother hadn’t always been paranoid and prejudiced against magic.

Emma started when Marian asked finally, “So what now? You haven’t turned anyone in, but will you help?”

“She can’t possibly know what we’re here for,” Neal put in. Emma had almost forgotten the two of them were there, the conversation had so intensely been about Red and Regina.

“Yes, I do. And that’s exactly why I want to help. That boy is the secret to undoing Snow’s power.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted: 02.09.18 Updated: 02.23.18

“What?!” Regina spat, looking at Emma, and Neal, and back at Red again.

“Didn’t you ever wonder how Snow defeated you?” Red taunted.

“The Imp did it for her, obviously. Though,” she admitted, “I don’t know what she had to offer in trade.”

“The condition was Emma’s first born.”  

They all gasped, and Regina turned immediately to Emma, but Neal was the first one to speak.

“My son?”

“Not your son,” Emma snapped. “I carried him for 9 months. I did all the work and suffered all the pain.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Neal said, holding up his hands, and Regina appreciated that he conceded the point immediately. “But I still want to help, to rescue him from this- _Imp_ \- person.”

“Rumpelstiltskin,” Regina explained, since that’s who he would likely have heard of.

“What?! My- my father?” Neal jumped to his feet and started pacing.

“Your father?!” Regina demanded, on her feet now too. The man who had corrupted and then betrayed her was the father of one of her most trusted crew members?

“Yes. God. What- I-” Neal sputtered. “I’ve been hiding from him for- well- ever since I came back to this realm- I don’t know,” he gestured irritably, “ten years before joining up with your crew or so. Whatever, it’s why I changed my name.” He turned back to Red. “And now you’re telling me he has my son? Or-” he corrected, “Emma’s son that I fathered?”

“Wait,” Emma broke in. “Let me get this straight. My son was the price for my mother to defeat Regina, before I was even born, let alone him, and the person he was traded to is his- grandfather?”

“The family dimensions are news to me,” Red said. “But yes, the price of the magic was your first born, and so once you had one he was forfeit. But you’ve come back for him, and if you rescue him-” she trailed off.

“The deal would be broken,” Regina finished.

Red nodded. “And then Snow could be defeated. And all magical people could live freely again.”

Emma wheeled on Regina. “Wait a minute. You said the other day that my mother must have had to give up my first born. Did you know?”

“No-” Regina said, horrified, having completely forgotten she said it until just now. “No-no. Absolutely not. Taking firstborns as payment is just something I had heard about him doing. Please believe me,” she added, suddenly afraid of what this would mean for their budding relationship.

“I do,” Emma murmured, stepping close. Her hand twitched like she didn’t quite know if she could touch Regina, and Regina reached out and squeezed her shoulder. Emma nodded.

“So how do we rescue him?” Neal asked.

They turned to him, surprised. “You said you’ve been hiding from The Dark One for decades,” Regina said.

“I’ve been avoiding him for centuries, actually,” he said ruefully.

“You look great for your age,” Marian put in teasingly.

He snorted. “You know time flows differently between realms.” Then he went on, more serious. “Nothing could induce me to go near my father. Except my son.” He looked at Emma, his eyes almost pleading for her not to deny this now.

Emma nodded, and turned back to Red. “So where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

**

“Emma, talk to me,” Regina said quietly. They could only spare a few moments from setting up camp, but the princess had been pensive ever since their conversation with Red, riding silently through the twilight until Regina had called a halt just before it became too dark to see, and she didn’t want to leave her to her thoughts any longer.

But Emma didn’t answer, instead continuing to clear the ground of rocks and sticks so that they could pitch the tent. It had become her nightly task, but the single-minded focus was new.

“Em?” Regina asked again, cursing the little quaver in her voice. “I’m sorry,” she added.

That startled Emma into looking at her for the first time. “Why are you sorry?”

“I wanted revenge on your mother, and you paid the price,” she said simply.

Emma laughed humorlessly. “Or maybe my mother is legitimately evil and we both paid the price.”

“It’s fair to be upset,” Regina coaxed. She needed to get her out of this numbness. “You’ve had a lot of unpleasant surprises lately.”

“It’s not that surprising, sadly. I knew my mother controlled my life. I just thought it only meant she would marry me off eventually, no matter what I did or didn’t want. And I didn’t know she dealt in children, but it seems just like her now that I know about it.” She looked at Regina again, actually seeing her this time. “And now that I know who Neal is related to, it all ties together. I think we were all meant to meet and go confront this mysterious Rumplestiltskin person.”

Time for another revelation. She had hoped to be able to put it off so that it wasn’t so much at once. “Not so mysterious to me. He was my mentor.”

“He was?”

“Yes. Rumpelstiltskin was the one who first taught me magic—which I set out to learn to get revenge on your mother. That’s a piece of this story that I still can’t make sense of. Why stop me after making it possible for me to cast the curse?” She sighed. “I suspect we’ll find out soon enough.”

“In that case, I think we were definitely all meant to meet.”

“Maybe,” Regina allowed, wondering suddenly if Emma felt like what had happened between them wasn’t her choice any more than the rest of it. The idea hurt more than she wanted to admit.

“If I have to go on some wild quest, at least I have you,” Emma said, and her smile felt, in that moment, like a profound gift.

**

Emma stared at her in disbelief. “A dragon.”

Regina nodded.

“When were you planning to mention that this old friend we’re going to see is a dragon?” Emma looked across the campfire at Marian and Neal, clearly realizing they had both known.

“Maybe I should have said something earlier,” she conceded. It wasn’t as if she had been hiding it while they had been traveling for the past few days. They were nearly back to the port now, so there had certainly been plenty of time. It just seemed so routine to all of them to be seeking aid from supernatural creatures that it hadn’t crossed her mind to bring it up. “But it wouldn’t change the fact that she’s the only choice.”

Emma’s brow furrowed. “My son is being held by an incredibly powerful magical being, and you want to go see-”

“Another incredibly powerful magical being,” she broke in before the princess could work herself up. She really should have realized that with Snow’s magic paranoia this would bother Emma. “She’s the only one I know who might know where The Dark One would be keeping your son.”

“I just- You’re friends with a _dragon_?” Emma was clearly still skeptical.

Marian snorted. “Very good friends.”

Regina sighed. This really wasn’t the time to get into that, but now she had to. “She’s the one I told you about.”

“Your lover was a _dragon_?”

“She also takes human form,” Regina felt like she needed to explain.

Emma’s brow furrowed, but she nodded, then asked, “And you think she would help?”

“I can’t imagine she would be thrilled with what your mother has been doing. And,” she gave a small smile, “she does have a soft spot for me. Answering questions is not much to ask.”

**

“It’s okay,” Regina murmured, pressing close to Emma’s side. She seemed like she was about to jump out of her skin as they passed through the entryway of the castle.

“We’re walking into a dragon’s lair!” the princess hissed back.

“Well yes,” she conceded, “but she’s also my friend. It will be fine.”

Then came a booming voice, seemingly from the very air around them. “You always were a bold one, Regina.” Regina gave a little amused snort. If she was bold, Mal had a penchant for the dramatic. “I still remember you walking in here when you were just a baby queen,” the voice went on. “Like you were going apple-picking rather than taking your life in your hands by poking a dragon. And now you still act like you have every right to walk on in to my castle when you haven’t bothered to call in thirty years.”

“Twenty-five,” she protested, carefully keeping her tone light.

Maleficent chuckled and materialized before them. “It’s good to see you.” She stepped forward and enfolded Regina in a long, tight hug. When she finally stepped back, she nodded to Marian and Neal, then looked at Emma. “Who is this you’ve brought?”

“This is Princess Emma.”

A little bit of smoke trickled out of Maleficent’s nostrils as she gave an unimpressed snort. “Oh, so you’ve brought me a virgin princess as a peace offering to smooth things over, have you?”

“Uh, no-” Emma said, blushing.

“And actually, that’s why we’re here,” Regina explained.

“Because she’s not a virgin? You know there’s no magic for that. You can fake it, but-”

“Because someone has taken her son,” Regina cut in. “Someone we both know well. I was hoping you might be able to tell us where to find him.”

Maleficent took a step back in surprise. “There’s only one person I know who deals in children, and he is not someone to antagonize.”

“Not antagonize, exactly,” Regina temporized.

“Quick job,” Neal put in. “We get in and out, steal the kid back. He doesn’t even have to know we were there until he notices the boy is gone.”

“The last guy who tried to steal something from the Dark One was flayed alive.”

“Really?” Emma squeaked.

“Yes,” the dragon said with an airy gesture, “some asshole named Robin Hood.”

“Poor guy,” Emma murmured.

“Not really,” Marian muttered darkly. Regina knew the story well. He had been her husband once, but when she miscarried even after he had stolen from the Dark One to save the baby he had blamed her. It had been what drove her to take off on her own—and led her to Regina’s crew.

“Regardless,” Maleficent went on, “while I’m quite a bit harder to flay than a mere human, I suspect Rumpelstiltskin could manage.”

“He doesn’t have to know you were involved,” Regina wheedled. “All we need is for you to tell us where to find him.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Aside from my undying gratitude?” Regina teased. “How does dethroning Snow White sound?”

**

“Oh Regina, you are in so much trouble,” Maleficent chuckled.

Startled, Regina whipped her head back from watching Emma leave. The princess was off to bed, leaving her to catch up with her old friend in the study.

“What do you mean?” she asked, not quite casually.

Maleficent laughed. “You can’t lie to me, little queen. You are utterly enamored of that girl.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted feebly. She should be used to the dragon’s ways by now, and yet she wasn’t. Perhaps she was just out of practice.

Maleficent cocked her head to the side. “I can’t decide if it’s sadder if you think you can pretend, or if you genuinely believe it. By your own admission you’ve known her only a few weeks, and in that time,  you’ve given up on ransoming her for her weight in gold and now you’re off on a wild wizard chase to find her son.”

“She lost her son because of me.”

“The dreaded captain of the Jolly Roger, Pirate Queen of the High Seas, known in whispers as The Evil Queen, Destroyer of Navies would not take on the guilt of some random crime,” Maleficent teased.

“It’s not a random crime. She paid the price for something I did, Mal. I can’t not help her.” She paused for a moment, thinking about what Emma had said about being destined to go on this adventure together.

“What?” the dragon prodded, not teasing now.

“Don’t laugh, because it’s not romantic twaddle, but I feel like there’s a reason we have been connected for- her entire life, really. At her birth, her son was promised as the price to stop my curse, a price paid to Rumpelstiltskin, who turns out to be the father of the man who would not father that child for nearly twenty years, during which time he became one of my most trusted advisers? It’s all too-” she paused, looking for the word. “Too connected. It has to mean something.”

She expected Maleficent to laugh, despite having asked her not to, but looked up to see her looking at her thoughtfully. “That is quite a lot of coincidence, and with Rumpelstiltskin involved may be no coincidence at all. There was always that story that he was seeking something in all his deals. Some sort of magic even he did not have. I had thought it was the curse he found for you, but when he stopped it at the last moment I decided it had only been a rumor.”

“And now?”

“And now I’m not so sure. Do be careful, little queen. The kinds of magics beyond the power even of Rumpelstiltskin are likely to be dangerous indeed.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since folks may not have noticed: chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11 have been extensively edited, in case you want to go back and catch up.

In hindsight, Emma realized she should have gone to bed immediately after her bath. The dragon kept a tub that magically replenished the hot water, and a long soak had left her sleepy. But she hadn’t wanted to sleep without Regina, and as she sat up reading her thoughts had started to wander. Before long she was brooding good and proper, thinking about all the ways that her life was out of her control and how helpless it made her feel. Helpless and angry.

She was just about ready to get up and pace in her frustration when the door opened.

“What’s that face about?” Regina asked, startled, the moment she looked up at her.

Emma sighed, wondering if it was because she was that transparent or if Regina could just read her exceptionally well. “I’m just frustrated.”

“What about?”

“Everything,” she said, nearly snapping.

“Alright,” Regina said slowly, soothingly. “Can you start at the beginning?”

“Tell me about what she did to you,” Emma blurted. “My mother. Tell me about how you came to want to kill her so badly. I need to understand how we all ended up here.”

“I’m sure you know,” Regina deflected, sitting on the padded bench by the dressing table a bit gracelessly, as if very tired all of a sudden.

“I know _her_ history books. Please.”

Regina went silent for a long, long moment, staring off into space. When she finally spoke again, her voice sounded rusty. “I was young. So young. Just a girl. And I fell in love with the stable boy.” She huffed a little bitter chuckle. “I should have known my mother would never let it go anywhere. She had wanted to be queen, but my father was a younger son, and so she put the hope on me. God, she even named me Regina.” She stopped for so long that Emma found herself ready to go over to her, but didn’t quite- Couldn’t quite-

“I realized later that my mother had orchestrated the entire thing. She killed the queen, and then when the king was searching the land for a new bride she sent me out horseback riding. She _hated_ that I rode. Said it wasn’t ladylike. But that day she encouraged it. It should have made me suspicious, but I was so happy to have the chance.” She sighed. “She must have made Snow’s horse go wild, too. It was too convenient, all of it. I saved her. Of course I saved her, she was a child in danger. I saved her and the king decided that caring for his daughter- basic human decency- acting to save a child’s life- meant I should be her new mother.”

Regina shook her head in disbelief. “I was a child. And he looked at me and saw a wife, I-” 

This time Emma did cross the few steps to touch her, and in the next moment they were wrapped around each other, pressed tight together on the ornate bench, both trembling with the weight of the past, and the present, and their intertwined futures.

“My mother accepted his proposal on my behalf. She cheerfully sent me off to someone old enough to be my father. My own mother sent me off-” She stopped again, and Emma wondered why people even had children if they were just going to treat them the way both of their mothers had.

Then Regina whispered something that made her blood run cold. “He raped me every day for ten years.”

How could Regina stand to touch her, if she was the granddaughter- But Regina was pulling her closer, burrowing her face into the place where her neck met her shoulder, clinging to her like she was her only anchor.

They were silent for a long, long moment, and it weighed on Emma. When it became unbearable, she spoke. “And you blame my mother.”

“Yes, but not because I saved her life. I was going to run away with Daniel.” The stable boy, Emma realized. “And Snow saw us. I begged her not to tell. But she was self-righteous even at ten. She knew best. And I watched my mother kill my beloved, because Snow just had to meddle.”

It was out before she could stop it. “How can you bear to touch me?”

Regina pulled back enough to look at her, a startled expression on her face. “I forget you’re her daughter.” At Emma’s furrowed brow, she insisted, “No, I really do. You’re just Emma, a person who has been harmed by Snow as much as I have. I don’t see her when I look at you.”

“Or my grandfather,” Emma couldn’t help saying.

“Especially not him.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes,” she said, cupping her cheek gently. “Do you feel better now?”

Emma blinked, having almost forgotten where the conversation had started at this point. “It helps me understand why you wanted revenge on my mother. And in some ways that is where this all came from. You wanted revenge on her, and she stopped you by bargaining away my child.” She shook her head, still stunned by that. “It started when she decided she had a right to control your life, and continued with controlling mine, and then this child’s- my poor, poor child, a pawn long before he was even born.”

“But it will end with the boy,” Regina said, soothingly.

Emma gasped, shocked to hear it put that way. “It will, won’t it.”

“Yes. It’s meant to be, somehow,” Regina said, her expression thoughtful. “It comes full circle back to another ten year old child.”

“I don’t want it to be meant to be,” Emma insisted, feeling a flash of frustration again.

“No?”

“No! I want to control my own life. I want something real, and mine, and- not chosen _for_ me!”

“You _have_ chosen, haven’t you? You chose to run away from home. You chose to ask to stay on my ship,” Regina pointed out. “You took charge of your life.”

And she’d chosen to become Regina’s lover, Emma realized, a smile creeping its way onto her face. “You’re right. I did choose. I just am so tired of feeling like nothing is real.” She sighed.

“I’m real,” Regina insisted, stroking her arm to emphasize it. “This is real.”

Emma looked at her, really looked at her, for a long, awed moment.

In the next she was kissing her, needy, almost desperate. Regina kissed her back soundly, her hands coming up to cup her face, as soon as she got over her surprise. Emma sank into the sensation, soft lips and soft hands and the rightness of this, the only thing she had ever really chosen.

It all got tangled up together, how profound the ability to choose her own fate was and how awed she was that someone as beautiful as Regina could be this to her, and it felt like the most amazing gift and she needed _more_ , her hands falling to the buttons of Regina’s shirt.

She almost had it open when Regina gently gripped her hands. She froze.

Regina kissed her softly, almost apologetically, then explained, “This bench isn’t very comfortable and we have a perfectly good bed.”

Emma felt herself grin. She stood up and held out her hand to Regina, who took it and rose gracefully, then kissed her forcefully again and backed her across the short space to the bed. That thread of playfulness kept the moment from becoming too heavy, and when she felt the bed against the backs of her thighs she pulled back and flopped down, looking up at Regina expectantly.

Regina’s smile took on an almost evil curve as she looked down at her, her hands moving to the buttons on her shirt to finish what Emma had started, her hips moving to some rhythm only she could hear. When she had the shirt fully open, she slowly slid it off, over her shoulders, down her arms, putting both hands behind her back in a way that made her breasts threaten to come out of her corset and Emma’s fingers itch to reach out for her. Her hands moved to the corset next. It fastened in the front and she watched, mesmerized, as Regina released each tiny hook, hips still swaying as a growing stripe of smooth skin became visible.

Just as she was unable to bear it, Regina turned her back to take the corset off entirely, making her groan in frustration.

“Oh did you need something?” Regina teased, her hips rolling now almost the way they had riding Emma’s face in her dream as she worked her pants down her thighs. Needing to distract herself before she completely lost control, Emma quickly went to work on her own clothes.

When Regina finally turned back around the world seemed to stop. Her body was so perfect, and she was so lucky to get to see her like this, and she didn’t even care that she was contorted in a weird position half way through trying to get out of her pants because she needed to touch her right this second before she died of wanting.

Emma kicked her pants off the rest of the way and was at the edge of the bed in an instant, reaching out gripping her hip to coax her forward.

“Impatient,” Regina teased.

“Want you,” she murmured simply, pressing kisses along her belly and ribs.

“That’s a good reason,” Regina conceded, joining her on the bed at last.

Emma moved onto her back, coaxing Regina on top, loving the weight of her as she settled astride her hips. She almost forgot to breathe as her hands found Regina’s hips, sides, ribs, but cupping her breasts made her sigh happily. They fit just right in her hands, and she smiled, but those taut little nipples were just begging to be sucked, so she slid her hands around to Regina’s back and urged her to lean down.

Regina did, brushing her breasts across her face. “Was this what you wanted?” Emma couldn’t help whining in frustration and Regina relented and was still.

Her whole soul felt relief when her mouth closed around a nipple, and also a fierce joy, and she couldn’t bring herself to be embarrassed about the moan she made. Regina didn’t seem to mind it, cradling her head against her chest. Having Regina in her mouth was so good, warmth and softness and intimacy, but also heat and need and sex.

She stayed there for a long while, moving from one nipple to the other, bringing one hand up to pinch the nipple her mouth wasn’t on but also wrapping her other arm around Regina’s back to keep her close. Back and forth she went, lavishing attention of tongue-palate-teeth, until Regina’s hips started to grind against her stomach, leaving hot slickness in their wake.

“Oh fuck,” she moaned, and in the next moment she was coaxing Regina over onto her back and kissing her way down her body to settle between her thighs. Regina raised an eyebrow like she was about to tease her for her eagerness, but when Emma’s breath washed across her cunt her eyes fluttered shut. Emma grinned, but felt it slide off her face into an expression of awe as she looked down. Fuck, her cunt was beautiful, glistening a bit with her desire. She brought her hands up and used her thumbs to spread her to look more, and god she was slick and delicious and gorgeous and hers. She got to be here.

“Don’t tease,” Regina objected, and Emma didn’t point out that it would be fair, because she didn’t want to tease at all.

They both moaned at the first swipe of her tongue, and Emma looked up adoringly at her as she lavished slow strokes against her, just exploring her again, learning the planes and curves of her and enjoying her wetness on her tongue and chin. Gradually, she focused her touches, making long slow licks directly to her clit, then quicker and swirling, and by the time she was fluttering her tongue Regina was moaning and her hips were bucking up to meet her face.

But she needed more—they both needed more. She moved her fingertips to Regina’s entrance, a question.

“Yes,” Regina moaned, pushing onto her fingers a bit already.

Sliding her fingers in where Regina was like liquid velvet was exquisite, and she started a slow, deep motion immediately. Regina’s moans as she tongued and fucked her were glorious, setting her body on fire.

She was so hungry for this, for her, so hungry-needy-desperate for her pleasure, wrapping her free arm around her hip to keep her right there and never have to take her mouth away. She was sucking intently now and her fingers were moving fast now but still so, so deep, wanting to pull every bit of pleasure out of Regina, wanting to make this as spectacular for her as it was for Emma right now to be knuckle-deep and her tongue coated in slick heat.

Then Regina was coming, her body becoming an arc of taut muscle as she cried out, and Emma had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.


	13. Chapter 13

Regina pulled up on Emma’s hair harder than she quite meant to, needing to kiss her but also to feel her close. Emma settled half on top of her, their bodies pressed tight together, and their kisses were slow and easy and erotic because her wetness was all over Emma’s mouth and so, so right. She’d felt a little uncertain and exposed after their conversation had turned confessional and her past had pushed its way out of her mouth unbidden. But Emma had helped her shake off the memory of her body as trauma and remember her body as pleasure. In fact, she realized, it had felt like worship, maybe almost like lov-

“Hey, where are you?” Emma prodded, propped on one elbow above her now.

“Nowhere,” she said quickly, then realized how it sounded and corrected, “everywhere. Exactly where I want to be.” She smiled.

Emma’s smile in return seemed like it might light up the world.

“Or, maybe not exactly,” she murmured, pushing up and coaxing Emma over onto her back.

“Oh yeah?” Emma said, grinning.

“Mmhmm,” Regina hummed, kissing along her jaw and down her neck. “You’ve been very selfish, after all.”

“Selfish?” Emma sing-songed, and Regina so deeply appreciated that she seemed to instinctively understand that she needed this to be light and easy right now.

“Yes, you’ve gotten to taste me twice now and I haven’t gotten to do the same.”

“Well I wouldn’t want to deny you,” Emma said.

“Good girl,” she purred, and Emma’s little appreciative moan at that had her body on fire all over again.

She kissed her way along Emma’s shoulder. She kissed her throat. She kissed down her sternum and between her breasts. The softness of her skin was intoxicating as she closed her mouth around a nipple, but so was the strength underneath it, not just the muscles that she wondered how a princess had managed to build but the strength of character to have fled home, to have set out on this quest, to have chosen this with her. She found her own touches turning adoring, nuzzling along Emma’s belly as often as she nipped or gave hot, open kisses.

When she settled between her thighs she looked up to meet her eyes again and found herself growling, “Mine.”

“Yours,” Emma agreed readily.

When she lowered her mouth where they both wanted it, Regina’s tongue was slow at first, but her touch was insistent, stroking firmly as if to reiterate the possession her words had claimed. Emma didn’t seem to mind, moaning deeply and cupping the back of her head in encouragement.

Gradually her touch became faster, more insistent, tongue curling on Emma’s clit at the top of her stroke. She reveled in the hissed “Yes”-es it pulled from Emma’s throat and the way her fingers were threaded through her hair now as her hips started to twitch.

“Inside,” Emma groaned suddenly, and Regina was pushing in deep with two fingers in the next breath, not quite able to make herself go slowly, needing to possess her in this as much as anything else.

Emma’s hips were working to meet her touches immediately, and in no time they found a rhythm, fingers driving fast and deep and tongue relentless as Emma went from twitching to bucking to nearly fucking her face. The edge of need was sharp, hers as much as Emma’s. She wanted to give her as much pleasure as she’d gotten, and make her feel as adored. So she fucked her harder and sucked her clit and held onto her hip hard as her body started to curl in on itself.

“Yes, so good Regina, need you-” Emma was gasping.

Love you, Regina thought, and was so startled she stopped moving for a moment.

But fortunately Emma was already tipping over the edge into her orgasm, gripping her head hard and shuddering even harder.

Regina went back to touching her as quickly as she could, stroking her through it, coaxing every bit of pleasure from her until she let her go and pushed weakly at her shoulder and gasped, “Too much.”

Then she lavished kisses back up her body before curling up on top of her, head tucked in the space between her neck and her shoulder. She wanted the closeness, but also to buy time to collect her thoughts and make her mind stop insisting on what could not possibly be true before she tried to look Emma in the face. They cared for each other, certainly, and the physical intimacy was wonderful, and it could become something someday, but it was far too soon for anything so big. Wasn’t it? She was just reacting to having shared so much before. That had to be what it was. Unless you believed in that fate claptrap.

“You are amazing,” Emma hummed, stroking her back.

That was an easier topic. “Thank you,” she said.

“We should do that every night.”

“I think Marian and Neal might object when we’re sharing a tent,” she teased.

“You sure?” She could feel Emma shaking with suppressed laughter now.

“Well if you want to ask them.”

Emma broke, and she laughed with her, and suddenly everything was easy again, just two people who had found each other in a tough world.

When their laughs quieted, Emma, who had flopped over onto her back, sighed, “It’s nice to have a real bed again.” Regina chuckled again watching her eyes go wide as realized. She added, sputtering, “Not that your bunk isn’t nice!”

“I’m aware of its limitations,” Regina assured her with a playful pat on the belly. “And I appreciate real beds too. We should enjoy it while we can.”

“Not too many inns where we’re going?” Emma asked with a wink.

Regina smiled, remembering how Emma had nodded quite seriously at Maleficent showing them the map even though she had no idea where the dragon was actually telling them to go. “No. Apparently after the last time he was stolen from, the Dark One picked up his entire castle and moved it to the side of a mountain. “

“Is he always that dramatic?”

“Kind of.”

“So how do we get there?”

Regina felt serious again. “It’s very far north. A tiny island far out to sea. And we have to sail past King George’s blockade to get there. It isn’t going to be easy.”

“I’m sure you can do it,” Emma murmured, and Regina saw that her eyelids were getting heavy. “My pirate queen full of derring-do.”

Before Regina had fully processed that Emma had claimed her as her own, the princess was asleep, leaving her searching her face for the answers she could not give.


	14. Chapter 14

It could almost be soothing, Emma thought. There was nothing but water as far as the eye could see, and only the rolling motion of the waves gave it all some structure. The wind was fresh and cool. It made her whole body feel clean as she breathed it in. The work was steady, pulling line, tying knots, whatever Neal or Marian or Regina told her needed to be done. The consistent rhythm of it soothed her soul and gave her purpose. She could almost forget she was on a grand quest to take on an ancient evil and save her son.  

**

She was startled when she could see her breath one morning. “Wow, it’s getting cold,” she said, mostly to herself.

“Season’s changing. But it’ll get colder before we’re through,” Marian said beside her, making her jump.

“Yeah?” she responded, trying to be pleasant and casual.

“We’re going so far north that we’ll be able to see the sky lights at night.”

“Sky lights?”

“Yes,” Marian confirmed. “Something about the magnetism of the earth makes the sky light up with bright colors at night if you go far enough north.”

Emma was fascinated. “You’ve seen it?”

“Not in a long time. Not since before Neverland. We don’t go this far north anymore. Not worth it since George put up his blockade.” Then she was off, lifting her voice as she went. “Hey, Grumpy, swab that deck like you mean it!”

**

It could make someone uneasy, Emma thought. There had been nothing but water as far as the eye could see for days and days, and only the rolling of the waves gave any feeling of motion or change. The wind was crisp now morning and night, enough to feel sharp in her nose and lungs. But she just kept working, trying not to notice that Neal and Marian and Regina’s voices were starting to sound a little strained as they gave orders. She couldn’t always sink into the rhythm of work anymore, but it still kept her mind busy most of the time, though every day she was more aware that she was on a grand quest to take on an ancient evil and save her son.  

**

Emma hadn’t thought it was possible to feel more tense than she had when she was sneaking out of her mother’s palace, but trying to glide between two of King George’s warships in the dark without being noticed was infinitely more terrifying. If her mother’s guards had caught her, all they would have done is drag her back inside, not blow a hole in her ship and doom 40 people to a watery grave.

She shook it off and tried to focus on calming herself. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure everyone could hear it over the quiet sounds of water and creaking timbers. In fact, it felt as if the entire night was holding its breath just as she was—just as they all were, deck crew and rigging crew and gunner crew down below, praying that the full moon stayed behind the clouds that had been with them for a few days, that no one on the ships flanking them looked too hard, that they stayed quiet enough.

There, they were past the stern of the second ship now, and Emma’s chest felt a little less tight. Now they had to get out of earshot to raise the sails. She could, just barely, make out Regina beside her at the wheel, rubbing one hand on the railing and whispering to her ship, coaxing her to go fast and quiet.

Then, impossibly, a shaft of moonlight broke through the clouds.

“Shit,” Regina hissed. Marian and Neal moved immediately to go relay orders since they could not shout. They needed to get the sails up and pray that no one looked behind the ships. They weren’t in the light at least.

But the clouds were breaking up now before the wind, and it was becoming lighter by the moment. Emma was back to holding her breath again as the sails filled and the ship started to move faster.

A shout rang out behind them. “Hey! Blockade Runner!”

Now all bets were off, and all need for stealth past. Regina lit the lanterns with a quick magical motion and the sailors went to work full out. They were picking up speed now, and it would take the massive warships much longer to turn around and give chase. They might just make it.

A rumbling boom split the night. Emma had just a brief moment to wonder whether it would miss before there was a crash of splintering wood as a railing on the port side went up in pieces. Okay, that wasn’t too bad, just cosmetic.

Another boom, and this one was met with a hoarse masculine shout of pain. A sailor crumpled to the deck and she was running to him before she had really made up her mind.

It was the dwarf, Grumpy. His body was misshapen on one side where the shot had struck him a glancing blow, and she was abruptly grateful for the low light. His breath was wheezing. She looked around for someone to help, but realized there was only one person on board who could possibly save him.

“Regina!” she yelled out, standing and sprinting to her side. “He needs magic.”

“Take the wheel,” Regina said immediately, and the tradeoff was quick.

Emma was impressed with herself that she held the wheel steady even as another boom came. She heard the shot splash in to the ocean to the aft of them. They were out of range. They just had to go fast now and try to lose them. Looking forward up the ship, she saw Regina kneeling beside Grumpy, her hands glowing purple once, twice, three times. Then she slumped forward onto all fours, looking defeated. When she reached out to close Grumpy’s eyes, Emma knew.

They were still running hard to escape, but the world seemed to slow to a crawl as Regina rose and walked back. The captain gripped the wheel beside Emma’s hand in a silent request to retake her place. Emma released it, but didn’t go far, resting her hand on Regina’s shoulder in a small gesture of comfort.

“I can’t use magic on your mother’s subjects,” Regina murmured at last.

**

It was getting unnerving, Emma thought. She almost wondered if there would ever be anything but water ever again, or the rolling of the waves, or the wind that was cutting now despite the fact that she was well wrapped up. Everyone’s tempers had grown short. While the lights at night were beautiful, they were also eerie and unsettling, a reminder of their grand quest to take on an ancient evil and save her son.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am likely to miss my posting day next week because i'll be traveling.


	15. Chapter 15

“Mar, I really think you should stay with the ship this time,” Regina said.

The last thing she expected was for Marian to laugh and ask, “Who do you think you’re fooling?”

“No really, I mean it.” Now she didn’t sound convincing even to herself. Her head knew the crew should go, but her heart didn’t want to be without them for a quest this momentous. After all these years, they were like her family.

Marian reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Regina, I’m not leaving you.”

“But the crew-”

“The crew follows its captain,” Marian said simply.

“This isn’t the kind of adventure that pays, Mar.”

“And it is incredibly dangerous,” Marian agreed cheerfully. “Regina, we’ve been following you across half the ocean on this chase for weeks now. Nobody’s in it for the money. We’re in it for love of you.”

“I don’t want to lead any more of you to your deaths,” Regina said quietly.

“Well then,” Marian retorted, “we’ll just have to be careful. Come on. It’s time to go ashore.”

**

It wasn’t so bad at first. At the base of the mountain they found a path that, when Neal took a small group and scouted ahead a little way, seemed to wind its way upward toward the castle.

At her skeptical eyebrow, Neal shrugged. “Even Dark Ones need to get a cart up the hill with food and wine, I guess.” 

Regina had snorted wry amusement and they had headed up.

After the first day snow had started to fall, not sticking at first but then starting to gather on the ground as the afternoon wore on. In the end Marian had convinced her to bring a dozen sailors in all. Some of them Regina could keep warm with magic flames. The rest were wearing the winter gear the ship had in storage. Glancing at Emma trudging beside her, almost invisible under layers of fur, she found herself squinting up the side of the mountain, trying to calculate how long it would take, how cold it would get, how much snow would fall—how long they could last.

“Beautiful,” Emma said suddenly.

“Hm?”

“The mountain. The snow,” she gestured around while never taking her eyes off Regina. “The company.”

Regina smiled.

“Hey, I think I found something!” Merlin called back from the head of the line.

**

Regina was torn between wanting to scream her frustration and feeling so exhausted she wanted to slump onto the nearest flat rock. The path they were on dead-ended at a giant door inscribed with the Dark One’s crest. She had tried every door opening spell she knew, every magic phrase, asking nicely, telling the door they were friends, and it hadn’t so much as shivered. It was a dead end. They had come all this way to be stopped by a hunk of metal.

“Hey, I bet I can pick the lock,” Neal said suddenly.

“You’re going to pick the lock on an enchanted door?” Tink asked dryly.

“What are the odds that they thought about that?” Neal pointed out, getting out his thin-bladed dagger. “Magic types always think they’re invulnerable,” he snorted, then added, “No offense, Regina.”

“None taken,” she assured him. His attempt couldn’t possibly work, but the door could be someone else’s frustration for a while and give her time to think up more tactics to try.

After a minute or so, there was a clang of metal on metal and a muffled “Son of a-”

“Neal, you okay?” Marian asked.

“Yeah, the knife just slipped and I skinned my knuckles- Whoa!”

Startled, Regina turned toward the voice, only to see the door opening. Neal stared at it, dumbfounded. She was startled too until she spotted the shine of crimson on his hand.

“Blood magic,” she said, stepping toward him and gripping his wrist to call his attention to it. She snorted. “I bet he didn’t expect his son to come calling.”

Inside the great door they found a large stone chamber that would have seemed like a natural cave if it hadn’t been lit by magical flames. On the far side was another sloping path like the one outside that looked like it wound its way up into the mountain, lit with more of the same flame.

Regina made a quick gesture at Billy, Merlin, and Victor, and they went to scout. The rest of them stood uneasily in the doorway.

“All clear, Captain,” Merlin affirmed after a long while as they came back into the room. “At least, as clear as a place like this can be. Gives me the willies.”

“Me too,” she acknowledged. “Alright, let’s go in. You take point with Victor. Then Billy with Marian.” Well-trained, they all started moving into formation, two by two. She stepped inside as she said, “Emma with me.”

She just had time to smile at Neal for falling in behind her without waiting for the order when the door was suddenly shut behind them as if it had never been open. Blinking in the suddenly dim light, listening to the pounding on the outside of the door from the half of the party that was trapped outside, she realized it had closed the second Neal crossed the threshold.

**

In the end, there was nothing to do but go on. They hadn’t been able to so much as budge the door, even when Neal rubbed his cut knuckles on it again. So she had conjured more torches and ordered that they take stock of which supplies had come in with them. There was enough food for a day, maybe two, and enough sleeping mats given that some of them would be on guard at all times while the others slept.

“Alright then,” she said, trying to infuse her tone with finality and confidence she did not feel. “There’s no sense in staying here. Time to go up.” And hope there was another way out that didn’t depend on Rumpelstiltskin’s forbearance, she did not say.

About half an hour in, she had sunk fully into brooding, cursing herself for letting her guard down, for thinking this would just be a walk in the mountains. She’d endangered all of them, and now six other people were risking their lives on her quest-

Well, Emma and Neal would have come anyway, but four-

She was dimly aware of Marian calling a halt for a midday meal, though how anyone knew what time it was in this infernal, neverending cave was beyond her. But she kept her spine straight and her chin up and hoped that she was giving a decent impression of nodding approvingly at her first officer’s initiative. If anyone saw how uncertain she was it would only compound the harm her poor leadership had done, after all. She took her rations and went to sit off to the side.

Her crew knew that meant she wanted space, so she was startled for a moment when someone plopped down beside her.

But of course it was Emma. “What’s going on?” she asked, so quiet Regina could almost pretend she didn’t hear.

But she didn’t. “Getting trapped in here was amateur.”

“It was magic.”

“I have magic!” she hissed, almost too loudly.

“He is elemental evil itself and hundreds of years old. I’m sure he knows things you don’t,” Emma pointed out, so reasonably that Regina turned to stare. Emma raised an eyebrow. “I took some time to read what I could find.”

Regina felt a weak smile tug at her lips despite herself.

“There’s my girl,” Emma said, her voice warm and sweet like sipping chocolate.

Regina had a real smile now, and she felt the tightness in her chest ease just a bit as Emma’s hand slipped into hers.

“If I have to go on some wild quest, at least I have you,” Regina murmured, and Emma, recognizing her own words, smiled bright enough to light the darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

Emma had just started to think that, except for being maybe trapped inside the Dark One’s mountain, this might not be too bad when the path leveled out in front of another massive entryway, this one built from stone blocks rather than being set into the natural stone. What was most unnerving was that, despite looking like a gatehouse for a grand fortress, it had no gate or door at all, just an open archway of stone.

“I can’t imagine it’s just inviting us in,” Marian muttered beside her, as if reading her mind.

“Me either,” Regina said from behind them. “We need a scout.”

Emma found it odd that Neal didn’t immediately go, since he was so often the one who went ahead to check things out for them. Maybe he was just uneasy here in his father’s stronghold.

“I’ll do it,” Billy said.

“Be careful,” Regina said.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” he said with a small grin, then crept forward carefully.

He got closer and closer, with the others following a few paces back. By the time he was under the archway Emma realized she was nearly holding her breath. That wasn’t going to help anything at all.

She had just forced herself to breathe normally when the entire cavern seemed to rumble around them. Blocks of stone began dropping out from the floor beneath Billy’s feet, seemingly at random.

“Shit,” Marian hissed, dropping her pack and starting to rummage inside.

It only took a moment for her to come up with the rope, but Billy didn’t have a moment. The stone he was standing on fell, and him with it.

His shout stopped almost immediately, and Emma felt sick until she saw Regina step forward, hands glowing purple. Billy hadn’t died; Regina had caught him with her magic. Sure enough, as they stepped carefully up to the edge of the hole she saw him hovering a few feet down, looking scared but otherwise fine.

Regina raised him up and sent him gently beside the rest of them. “I knew this was too easy,” she growled.

“Are the other stones stable, do you think?” Victor asked, eyeing them. They made a ragged path across the chasm that had opened up.

“Only one way to find out,” Marian said. “But this time let’s use a safety line.”

“And send somebody else,” Billy said, his laugh shaky and forced.

Merlin volunteered this time, then tiptoed across, rope around his waist in case of any further excitement. After long, tense moments, he made it to the far side. Then, one by one, they followed him across, each tethered to a line. They took a quick break to eat, and Emma tried not to wonder what else this citadel might have in store.

**

They were all on their guard after that, as they continued along what was now a masonry passageway. Regina ordered them to spread out so that at the very least whatever other surprises the Dark One had built into his fortress wouldn’t catch them in a group. The captain herself kept close to Emma, and Neal stayed on her other side, and she was torn between feeling appreciated and worrying that having two people keeping an eye on her left others unprotected.

She had just turned to Neal to tell him so when his next footfall came with a little clicking sound. He froze, calling out “Wait! Nobody move!”

“What’s going on?” Regina demanded, paused awkwardly mid-stride.

“I just stepped on a lever. I heard it go.”

Everyone looked around as frantically as they could without moving, trying to see what the mechanism might have unleashed, but they couldn’t see anything.

“Maybe it’s out of service?” Marian asked hopefully after a moment.

“Yeah maybe,” Neal agreed. “Regina?”

She sighed. “You can’t just stand there forever. Go ahead and step off. Carefully.”

He did, and was immediately engulfed in flames. But the scream came from behind Emma, and she whirled around to see Victor with one arm completely on fire from the flames that had shot out at the same time from another section of the wall. Horror washed over her. If it was so bad Neal couldn’t even scream-

Then the flame was gone as quickly as it had come, with Neal totally unscathed. She turned back to Victor, hopeful, but he was definitely burning even as Merlin and Billy threw a blanket on him to smother it.

“What the hell?” Neal breathed, and Emma couldn’t have agreed more. 

“Move,” Regina commanded quietly, and they stepped back from Victor.

Even though she saw the telltale purple glow that told her Regina was healing him, the sight of him turned Emma’s stomach and she had to look away. When she did, she met Neal’s eyes.

“Why didn’t it-?” she blurted.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “But I can’t say I’m not glad, because she can’t do that to me.” He tipped his head toward Regina and Victor.

Emma blinked, startled. “You’re from my mother’s kingdom?”

“More like your great- great- great -great- grandmother or something. Long before her time.” He shrugged. “Regardless, we’ve figured out over the years that the deal covers me.”

“That’s why you hesitated.” She hadn’t quite meant to say that out loud.

“Huh?”

Well she’d have to explain it now. “Before. Where Billy ended up falling. Usually you’re the first to step up and do something, but you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I- I have an idea of what my father is capable of. But if it’s- if I’m-” and he gestured to where he’d been standing, looking bewildered.

“Yeah.”

An uneasy silence fell.

“Alright, Victor?” Regina asked at last, drawing their attention back to that side of the passageway.

“Yeah. But-” and he sighed. “I need to rest.”

“Seconded,” Billy said immediately.

“Here?” Merlin said. “Are you crazy?”

“It’s not like anywhere else is likely to be safer,” Neal pointed out. “At least we know not to step on- _that_.” He pointed where he had been when he’d caused the fire.

“And we have to sleep sometime,” Marian pointed out. “Especially if Regina’s going to have to save somebody’s life every ten minutes.”

Emma saw now that Regina looked exhausted.

“Alright,” Regina said, sounding as worn out as she looked. “We’ll have to risk it. Try to bed down where you saw people step and we will hope for the best. Neal, Merlin, you’re first watch.”

Emma wanted to go to her so much that her fingers twitched, but she knew she probably shouldn’t risk taking the steps. So she just sat down where she was and took the mat she was passed and lay down immediately, trying to contain the panic that threatened to well up in her chest at having led everyone into this death trap.

After a moment she felt someone beside her and knew from the sheer presence that it was Regina even before she slid onto the mat with her, wrapping around her and pressing against her back.

Emma murmured, “Hiiii-” and she couldn’t bring herself to be embarrassed that it was a bit high-pitched and whiny.

“Hello,” Regina greeted, and the richness of her voice was like cool water even though there was a tremor in it too.

Emma found she could breathe deeply again, and weariness began to overtake her anxiety. She was half asleep when Regina asked, “How are you holding up?”

Emma knew her little chuckle sounded a bit hysterical and her “Fine” didn’t fool either of them.

“Me too,” Regina said knowingly.

“I’m trying to remember that this is the worst of it. Then we just have to grab my son and run.”

Regina was silent for so long that she half-turned in her arms to look at her and found her brow furrowed.

“You don’t think we’ll get away clean, do you,” Emma realized in a whisper.

“Not a chance in hell,” Regina admitted. “He went to a lot of trouble to get his hands on your son. He won’t give him up easily.”

“There’s no hope, then?”

“I don’t believe in hope,” Regina said firmly. At Emma’s startled look, she explained, “I believe in planning and working hard. Getting through this will be because of our actions. Not our feelings.”

“That works,” Emma said, turning fully onto her back and tapping her shoulder to suggest Regina lay her head down. The action she could take now was make sure they both got some rest, and if she felt good about it in the meantime, well, that was alright.


	17. Chapter 17

They rested only for a few hours, but it was enough time for Regina to feel less as though she had been wrung out and left to dry in the sun.

That was good, because they had to be getting close to the castle proper. The party had been more than half way up the mountain when they had entered the outer doors, and it had been the better part of a day inside now as far as she could tell. If only she didn’t know that meant they must be about to encounter the deadliest traps. If only she wasn’t now spending every moment terrified for what could happen to Emma. And Neal. Why had the door opened for him and closed behind him? Why hadn’t the magical fire harmed him? Was it only an oversight in the Dark One’s protections?

Danger. Emma. Neal. It all chased itself around her head while she tried to stay alert for whatever was next as they continued their travel through the tunnels.

“Oh shit,” Merlin muttered, looking behind them. They all froze and followed his line of sight, seeing a huge boulder poised at the top of a ramp. It wasn’t moving, but it was clearly ready to come down and crush them all as soon as somebody stepped on the trap that had to be around here somewhere.

Seeing them all stopped in place, Regina sighed. “Keep going. There must be a switch, but we haven’t hit it yet. All we can do is step where someone else has stepped.”

They did. For long, tense minutes, the people at the front of the group held their breath with every footfall and the people behind them concentrated intently on memorizing where they had been.

Gradually the giant rock receded behind them, and then it was out of sight around a bend.

Regina had allowed herself a tiny sigh of relief when Emma’s next footfall, though exactly where Merlin’s had been before her, came with a little click. The next moment they heard a rumble.

“It’s brighter ahead,” Victor said. “Like the passage might open up. We can make a run for it.”

There wasn’t much time to consider it, but they didn’t really have other options than getting out of the way. The boulder was heavy enough that the chances of stopping it, even with magic, were slim. “Go!” Regina commanded, and they broke into an awkward run, packs of supplies bouncing on their backs.

Gradually the rumbling got louder as the giant rock got closer, and Marian shouted at all of them not to waste time looking behind them.

“Wait!” Neal cried out, doing a double take as he peeked behind himself anyway, then stopping and turning. “It’s fake.”

“Are you crazy?” Billy demanded, running right by him.

“I’m serious,” Neal insisted.

It couldn’t be. She wasn’t going to risk them all on Neal being right, and even if he was, what was to say it wasn’t just him who was protected from it like he’d been from the fire? So she kept going. She glanced over her shoulder once, twice, seeing the boulder getting closer, and closer.

And then it hit Neal and dissolved into smoke.

“STOP!” she shouted, and they all did immediately, conditioned to obey her commands. Breathing hard, she explained, “He wanted us to run.”

“I can see why,” Merlin called from far down the passageway. His long legs had taken him to the front of the pack. “This leads nowhere. He was trying to run us all off a cliff.”

With a few more moments of walking, Regina saw that it was true. The passageway opened into thin air, a ravine so deep she couldn’t see the bottom. She felt exhausted just looking at it, let alone thinking about how to get across to the walkway she could barely see on the far side. This was it. Even if she could magic them across, which wasn’t at all sure, they’d have to leave Emma and Neal behind. She slumped to the ground.

“Why does everybody look so defeated?” Neal asked as he reached the edge. “I mean, the path is kind of narrow, but it’s there.”

At this point, Regina wasn’t going to question it. “You can see something?”

“You can’t?” Looking around, he realized they really couldn’t. “Okay- do we have any flour left in the pack?”

They hadn’t been able to cook in here, so there was. Not much, but some. They all watched, stunned, as Neal appeared to step out and stand on air, scattering enough flour behind him to show the contours of a walkway crossing the canyon.

“Wait!” Marian said as Billy started to move toward it. “Let’s make sure it can hold anyone but him. We know this place doesn’t play by the same rules for everybody.”

“Yeah, it does seem designed to keep anyone but me out,” Neal agreed ruefully.

Regina didn’t want to think about what that meant, so she just watched, tense, as they roped up Marian and sent her out onto the pathway with Neal.

At the point when they were out of rope, Marian turned back and spread her arms as if to say, “Well?”

“There’s no help for it,” Regina muttered to herself, then said louder. “Alright, everybody. That’s as much reassurance as we get. Let’s go.”

Her heart was in her throat the entire way across, watching Emma in front of her between picking her steps carefully on the narrow walkway and trying not to think about how far down it was if someone slipped or the path decided it wouldn’t tolerate them after all.

After what felt like an eternity, they reached the other side. They found an ordinary door, the kind that you’d see in any great manor house—quite out of place in a mountain stronghold that had tried its damnedest to kill them so far. It was unlocked, and when Victor peeked in he reported a seemingly normal wine cellar.

“Well?” Merlin asked. “Do we just go in? Do we send Neal first or will the door slam shut behind him again?”

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted. “Neal should go last, I guess. Just in case.”

And so, one by one, they passed into the Dark One’s castle.


	18. Chapter 18

For all it was on the side of a mountain on a remote island in the sea and had a tunnel full of traps leading up to it, Emma found the interior of the castle so normal she briefly felt homesick. The lowest levels, where they’d come in, were the kitchens, and if the pots were bewitched to cook by themselves and the swan was trussing itself for roasting, that wasn’t so strange in the scheme of things. Above that would be a great hall, and above that meeting rooms, and higher still smaller private apartments, and surely that was where her son must be. This part she knew. So much of this adventure she had been the inexperienced one, but this, she knew.

She had taken two steps toward the exit of the kitchen when Marian stopped her with a grip on her arm. “Not that way.”

“You don’t think he’s in the dungeon, do you?” she asked, horrified.

“Not very likely. But if we’re going above, we should take the servants’ stairs,” Marian explained.

“It will keep us out of sight longer,” Regina put in.

Embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of it, Emma just nodded and followed where the others led.

**

They crept along as slowly as they had in the tunnel for the first few flights of stairs, testing each step, spread out, eyes scanning the walls around them.

Then Regina huffed a little laugh. “What are we doing? There won’t be traps in here.”

“There won’t?” Emma asked.

“If he killed his maid, then where would he be?” Regina pointed out.

“Does he have servants?” Merlin put in. “The kitchens were running on their own.”

“He has at least one,” Regina said. “I met her once.” She paused, her brow furrowed in thought. “In fact, we should find her if we can.”

“Are you crazy?” Victor demanded. “Why wouldn’t she just tell him we’re here?”

“It’s only a matter of time before he finds out we’re here,” Regina said with a dismissive wave. “But I remember that she was more than a little in love with him and wanted to help him break the hold of evil. I think if we explained our quest as righting his wrong of stealing a child she would be willing to help.”

**

When they reached the level where they intended to leave the stairwell and start looking, the tension returned. The thick carpet muffled their footfalls, but they were alert to every clank of armor or creaky floorboard that might give them away. Without knowing anything about the grand house’s floorplan, the only thing to do was go door by door, peeking into the keyholes to see if the rooms beyond them were occupied.

After about half a dozen attempts, Neal’s breath caught and he stepped back to whisper in Regina’s ear and tell her what he’d seen. He didn’t look anxious enough for it to be his father, but was it the maid? The boy? Emma tried to contain her curiosity and just stay out of the way as Regina made a complicated series of hand gestures to the others, giving silent commands. Within moments Billy and Victor each went to one end of the hallway to stand guard and Neal and Merlin stood out of sight on either side of the doorway. Regina gestured for Marian and Emma to fall in behind her, then straightened her shoulders and opened the door.

The maid jumped, her feather duster falling out of her hand.

“Hello, Belle,” Regina said, carefully holding out her hands to show she wasn’t armed. “It’s good to see you again. I trust you’re well?”

“Regina,” Belle greeted, her tone flat and not giving anything away.

“We need your help,” Regina said, her tone soothing as if she was facing a cornered animal—which, Emma thought, might not be so far off from this woman’s experience being in the service of a powerful evil being.

Belle scoffed. “My help? Don’t you mean Rumple’s?”

“No, yours,” Regina insisted, explaining, “We’re looking for a boy.”

Even from across the room Emma could see her posture stiffen.

“A boy?” she asked, her voice sounding strained.

“My son,” Emma said, stepping forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Regina wince and realized the captain had been intending to keep that quiet. But if this woman was as good as Regina had said, she wouldn’t use it against them.

“Rumpelstiltskin acquired him in a deal,” Marian explained.

Belle’s eyes went wide. “You can’t renege on a deal,” she insisted, sounding genuinely worried.

“It was my mother’s deal, not mine,” Emma insisted, feeling rage well up inside her to think of it again. “She had no right to bargain him away.” She felt Regina’s hand on her lower back, warm and soothing, and relaxed again.

“We know Rumple has him here,” Regina explained. “All we’re asking is that you help us find him.”

Belle looked at them for a long, long moment, eyes lingering on Regina and Emma the most.

“Alright, I’ll help,” she said at last.

**

As Belle led them toward where the boy was, Emma could soon tell that she wasn’t entirely sure about her choice. She kept looking distrustfully at the armed members of the party, Regina in particular. Emma wondered if she was going to decide that they weren’t worth helping after all.

She took a long stride to catch up to Belle. “Thank you, by the way,” she said.

Belle glanced at her, eyes wary. “It’s nothing,” she said dismissively.

“I appreciate it, regardless. I have wondered where he was for so long.” Honesty had served her well with this woman so far.

“I never felt right about having him here,” Belle admitted. “But I thought he was an orphan. Please believe me.”

“I do,” she assured. Then she blurted, “Is he- has he been- happy?” she knew she shouldn’t bare her soul this much but it was nagging at her—it had always worried her sometimes, but it was suddenly a sharp need to know since she’d discovered he had been some bargaining chip and not just adopted out to somebody who wanted a child to preserve the illusion that Emma was marriageable.

“He wants for nothing,” Belle said immediately. “The finest clothes and food and books.”

She couldn’t help pushing. “But is he _happy_? Has he been _loved?_ ”

“I’ve tried to make him feel cared for. As much as I could.” Emma wasn’t sure which of them Belle was trying to convince. “He’s a good boy. Kind and thoughtful. Maybe a little lacking for playmates his own age,” she admitted with a pained look. Then she shook herself. “We’re here.”

The door opened easily at Belle’s hand and Emma marveled at how smoothly this was going as a brown-haired boy looked up from the book he was reading as they all filed in.

“Belle, who are these people?” he asked, curious and unafraid.

“Intruders who will be very sorry, dearie,” answered a high-pitched, sing-song voice from the open doorway behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a bit late. getting to be the challenging part of the semester.


	19. Chapter 19

Regina took just a moment to wince before turning around to face him. She had known a confrontation with Rumpelstiltskin was inevitable, but she had really hoped Emma would get a moment with her son before they had to do it.

“Regina,” the imp said, seemingly taken aback. “That, I did not see coming. Foresight is so tricky that way, isn’t it?”

His giggle grated on her, and she knew her smile was mostly a baring of teeth.

Before she could speak, he went on, “But I do see why you’re here. You think that if you steal him and break the deal, you can defeat Snow White. Clever, clever. But not nearly clever enough. What can you be thinking, trying to steal from me?”

“He’s not a possession,” Neal said suddenly, drawing Rumpelstiltskin’s attention.

The man waved his hand irritably. “Of course not, but-”

“And you don’t legitimately have him in the first place,” Emma cut in.

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. “How do you figure that, dearie?”

“Snow had no right to him to bargain him to you,” Regina said, wanting to draw his attention off of the others. If he figured out who they were-

The little man laughed. “Don’t be foolish. As queen, Snow has sovereign right over every person in her kingdom. You know that perfectly well.”

"Why are you always like this?!” Neal broke in. “It’s all technicalities and contracts with you. Why can't you just be decent and caring for once?" Regina could hear the echoes of old pain in his tone even as she silently cursed him for revealing that he knew so much.

“Who are you that you think you can talk to me that way?” the imp snarled, and Regina felt a prickle of power along her skin.

“Your son,” Neal growled. “Remember, the one you broke a deal with to keep your power?”

That brought Rumpelstiltskin up short. “Bae?” he asked, sounding more like a human man than Regina had ever heard him.

“Not anymore. Not since you abandoned me. I chose a new name, Neal. On my own. I was alone because of you.” Neal was really working himself up now, and Regina was at a loss for how to calm him. “And I’ll be damned if I let you ruin the life of another little boy for your- your schemes!” he finished.

“Can you guys stop talking about me like I’m not here?” the boy in question broke in. Regina felt herself smile a bit at his boldness. Emma’s son indeed.  

“Henry,” Belle said, shaking her head warningly.

“He’s right,” Rumpelstiltskin said abruptly. “It matters a great deal that he’s here. He was meant to be here.”

“What are you talking about?” Emma demanded.

Rumpelstiltskin giggled again. “I foresaw it. The grandchild of Snow White would lead me to my son, who was no longer in the Land Without Magic but had come back to our realm. So, I made him the condition of stopping Regina from sending us there and waited. And here you are.” He opened his arms toward Neal and grinned widely.

Suddenly hearing how it all fit together made Regina’s head spin. Rumple had set her up to cast the curse for his own purposes, the same purposes that led him to betray her in order to stop the curse. And it was part and parcel of Snow stealing Emma’s baby. The both of them were pawns in a grand scheme and connected on a deeper level than she had ever imagined. She was lost for words for a moment, just staring at him. Then she felt Emma’s hand on her arm, warm and solid, and turned to meet her eyes. Emma looked as rocked as she felt, and Regina took a deep breath, because finding out how they had ended up here didn’t help any of them get out.

But Rumpelstiltskin was paying no attention to anyone but Neal. “And now we can be a family again!”

“Like Hell we can,” Neal growled.

“Wait, Snow White is my grandmother?!” Henry put in.  

Everything was spiraling out of control and Regina’s mind worked furiously, trying to think about how to get Henry, get away from Rumple, not get any of them killed.

“You told me I didn’t have a family!” Henry accused.

“You stole my son to get to your own?!” Emma said in the same moment, and oh no, oh no, this was so bad. Everyone was talking entirely too much, and didn’t they know how the imp would use it against them?

“Your son?” Of course Henry would notice that immediately, and he got up and moved toward Emma now, stepping into the middle of the room, and that was going to be a problem if fire started flying.

“Yes,” Emma said simply, taking half a step forward and then stopping, unsure.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Rumpelstiltskin chided. “Hands off the merchandise. I traded for him fair and square.”

“I forbid it, Papa,” Neal said, voice quiet but cold as he stepped between his father and his son. “You will let him go.”

“Bae,” the imp said, a hint of pleading in his tone. “It’s just business.”

“He’s my son!” Neal shouted.

“Your son? I thought I was _her_ son.”

“Someone needs to tell this kid where babies come from,” Victor said, not quite quietly.

“I know where babies come from,” Henry scoffed. “But Snow White’s daughter had a baby with Rumpelstiltskin’s son? That’s kind of hard to understand.”

“Your son?” the imp repeated, his eyes wide and locked on Neal.

Regina realized that he was truly caught off guard for the first time since they had encountered him. Quickly, she made eye contact with Marian and Merlin, who were farthest into the room. A tiny motion of her head was all she could make without drawing attention, but they gave her tiny nods back and started edging around to flank their enemy.

Their enemy, of course, immediately noticed and froze the two of them with a wave of his arm. “Honestly, Regina, why would you think that would work?”

“Papa!” Neal broke in. “Yes, he’s my son. And you will let him go,” he added firmly. “I will stay here as a hostage in his place if you insist. But let him go.”

“You wouldn’t be a hostage,” Rumpelstiltskin insisted, defensive. Then he added, sounding genuinely regretful, “But I’m afraid I can’t do that, Bae.”

“It’s Neal!”

“Neal, then,” he corrected, almost meekly, and Regina was awed to see how his son brought out the man within. Was this what Belle had seen in him, too?

“And why the hell not?!”

“Because my protection is the only thing keeping him alive.”

“What?!” Regina scoffed. “What kind of monster would want to kill a little boy?”

“That would be me,” came a voice behind them. They all whirled. Peter Pan was lounging on the chair Henry had vacated.


	20. Chapter 20

Emma didn’t recognize the newcomer, a blond boy not much older than Henry, but she was moving to stand between him and her son even as Regina growled, “Pan.”

“Regina! So lovely to see you again!” Pan greeted, falsely cheery. “And Neal. I see you did find the boy for me in the end. Only took you ten years.”

Rumplestiltskin snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

“We can’t all kill an oracle and steal her gift of foresight, dear Rumple,” Pan shot back with a dismissive wave of his fingers. “Other methods of finding out what will happen are terribly imprecise. These things happen.”

“What are you talking about?” Regina asked.

“Were you in on that, too, Papa?” Neal demanded.

“No, Bae- Neal. Not at all. I knew that Pan had tried to capture the boy who could extend his youth but gotten the timing wrong and accidentally caused the conception of that very same boy, who was also the boy I needed. But not that you were the father.” His tone pleaded for Neal to believe him.

“As touching as all this is,” Pan drawled, “I have a heart to drain, so if you’ll excuse me-”

As she drew the dagger that was her only weapon, a flare of light in Emma’s peripheral vision told her Regina had conjured a fireball. She could also half-see all of their companions falling in to position between Henry and Pan. All the while she stared him down, determined to protect her son at any cost.

Pan stuck out his lower lip in a grotesque parody of a childish pout. "Well this is just not fair.” He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled.

Emma watched in horror as his shadow sat up off of the floor and detached itself to stand beside him.  

“That’s better,” he said. Then they both drew swords.

“How primitive,” Rumpelstiltskin taunted, lounging against the far wall trying, and failing, to look disinterested.

Pan scoffed. “I don’t need magic to deal with this riffraff.”

“I’ll show you ‘riffraff,’” Neal growled, stepping forward and swinging his sword.

The room dissolved into chaos then, with Regina, Neal and Billy charging Pan and the other three taking on the shadow. Emma realized she would only be in the way and stepped back to stand directly in front of Henry, dagger drawn and eyes searching the room for threats.

Seeing motion out of the corner of her eye she whirled, dagger at the ready.

It was Belle. She held her hands up in a gesture of peace. Emma nodded and Belle stepped past her, out of the main fight.

“Belle are those really my parents?” she heard Henry ask.

But she couldn’t spare the attention to listen for the rest of the conversation, because things were not going well for her companions. Pan had apparently reconsidered his refusal to use magic and she saw him fling Billy across the room with a gesture between parrying the other two’s blows. Neal was next, slumping against the chaise with a groan. Regina didn’t even pause, flinging fire with one hand and swinging her sword with the other.

In the next moment she was down too, and Emma didn’t have a moment to spare to worry about her before Pan fixed his eyes on her.

“Please, take me instead!” she insisted. “Leave my son.”

The boy pretended to think about it, then tutted. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Then you’ll have to go through me,” she said, swallowing back her own terror and squaring up.

Pan chuckled. “Gladly.”

“And me,” Neal said, stepping unsteadily in front of her.

“Do you think that’s some kind of deterrent?” Pan asked, sounding almost bored.

“No, but I am,” Rumpelstiltskin said as he stepped in front of Neal, his usually sing-song voice gone low and deadly. “And you won’t touch my son.”

“Finally, something interesting to do,” Pan said, just before Rumpelstiltskin flung him across the room and poofed after him.

With Pan himself occupied fighting someone that looked like he was at least a match for him, there was suddenly only his shadow to reckon with. But as Emma turned to look at the other group, she realized they were all still in quite a bit of trouble. Victor was on the floor, she hoped only unconscious, and Merlin was favoring his left knee. Marian seemed to be alright, but as she watched the shadow’s sword caught hers. Then the murky blackness closed with her and twisted the weapon out of her grip in a way that, based on her pained cry, must have been hell on her wrist.

The shadow just tilted its head a little before swinging around to make a beeline for Henry. Emma felt the dagger slip a little in her sweaty palms as she raised it and swallowed hard. What could anybody do against a shadow?

Then Regina was in front of her, parrying the shadow’s sword as she shouted, “Neal!”

“I’m on it!” he shouted back. “Belle! We need a jar.”

“A jar?” Belle repeated, and Emma was just as incredulous.

“Yes! Jar, urn, cannister. Anything with a lid.”

“Alright,” Belle said, then went to the cabinet on the wall and started rifling through it.

A loud crashing from the other side of the room drew Emma’s attention. Pan and Rumpelstiltskin had been throwing balls of magic at each other, and one had gone astray and hit the wall, leaving a smoking crater.

“Honestly, some houseguest you are,” Rumpelstiltskin scoffed. Then he jumped on Pan and they both vanished.

Emma had breathed half a sigh of relief when she felt as if her body was being split in half. Looking down, she realized that wasn’t so far off. A shadowy sword was poking out of her chest.

She felt herself fall as it withdrew, and the room was all tilted when she landed. She felt wetness on her chest and realized dimly it must be blood.

“Emma!” Regina cried.

“Belle, we need it now!” Neal shouted.

“I’ve got it,” Belle said, but it sounded like she was underwater.

Or maybe Emma was. The world was getting dark around the edges. The good thing was that the pain was muted too. She thought she saw Regina cast a fireball into the jar Neal was holding, and that couldn’t be right, could it? Then the shadow went in after it and Neal slammed the lid on. That definitely was her eyes playing tricks on her. Though she could hardly see now. It was so cold. So cold.

“Emma! Emma stay with me,” Regina was pleading in the next moment, kneeling beside her. Her hands lit up purple once, twice. She shook herself, and tried again and again and again. When a tear hit Emma’s face she realized Regina was crying.

“Don’t cry,” Emma breathed. Then the world went black.


	21. Chapter 21

“No! No-no-no-no.” It was all she could say, trying her magic again and again even though she knew the terms of Rumple’s contract made it impossible. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t lose Emma. But there was so much blood, and she’d gone so still, and Regina’s vision was so blurred from tears that she could barely see anymore.

“Kiss her,” Marian said quietly, and she didn’t know when she’d come to stand beside her.

Regina just shook her head, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

“Yes,” Marian insisted. “True Love’s Kiss can overcome any curse.”

But she couldn’t. People like her didn’t get True Love’s Kisses. It hadn’t worked on Daniel, and she had been pure of heart then. Now? After her years poisoning her soul as the Evil Queen? There was no hope. And was this even a curse?

Yet not kissing her wasn’t doing any good either. Despairing, but out of options, she leaned down and pressed her lips to Emma’s.

Her heart nearly stopped as she felt magic surge through her. Looking up, she met Marian’s eyes, needing confirmation that she hadn’t just imagined it.

Marian nodded vigorously. “Now heal her.”

Still not quite daring to hope, Regina looked down again, summoning her magic and placing her hands on Emma’s chest. Relief surged through her as she felt the faintest possible flutter of a heartbeat. She wasn’t too late.

“Come back to me, Emma. Please.” She took a deep breath and then pushed out every fear and worry and stray thought from her mind and willed her to be well.

The magic slammed into her, nearly as strong as the kiss had been. But this surge of magic was all funneling through her, pulled from the world and focused by her will. It was overwhelming—she’d never healed someone this badly wounded before. The amount of magic it was taking was staggering. It didn’t take long before she was dizzy, but there was still work to do and she pressed on.

Soon she felt prickles of pain throughout her body as the magic threatened to escape her control, threatened to tear her apart. It was worth it. She could feel Emma strengthening as the hole in her chest knitted together. She could feel her breathing easily again. Just a little bit more. She was clinging to consciousness now, sheer determination keeping her going until Emma’s body was whole again.

Emma took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Regina knew no more.

**

Regina slowly became aware of fingers stroking through her hair. Next she noticed a steady, rhythmic thump under her cheek. It was sort of like a heartbeat. And a heartbeat under her cheek reminded her of-

“Emma!” she gasped trying to sit up.

“Hey, I’m here. You wouldn’t let me go.”

Her voice was low and rough and there was so much weight in those words that Regina took a deep, surprised breath. It was then that she realized she was laying with her head on Emma’s chest.

“How did I end up-”

“You wouldn’t let me go,” Emma said again, teasing now. “You were mostly unconscious when you collapsed onto me but you grabbed hold and would not let me go when the others tried to move you. So I thought I’d just stay here with you a while.”

“Sorry,” Regina murmured, embarrassed. But she made no move to let go even now.

“I don’t mind. It’s been a while.”

“I don’t mind either except that we need to get going,” Marian said teasingly from somewhere behind Regina. “So if the two of you are recovered-”

“Let’s find out,” Regina said, pushing herself up carefully, fearing nausea or dizziness. But when she got herself sitting she felt only bone-deep weariness. She’d take it. “I’m okay. Emma?”

“Never better,” she said, with only a trace of sarcasm, sitting up beside her.

“Okay, now let’s grab the kid and get the hell out of here before Mr. Sparkle comes back,” Victor said, urgency in his voice.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Henry said, and, startled, they all turned to look at him. Regina realized they’d never considered that he wouldn’t be thrilled to be rescued, and yet, this was the only place he’d ever known.

“You don’t want to come home?” Emma asked gently as she got to her feet.

“This is my home. Because you gave me away.” The pain in his tone was sharp.

“No I didn’t, Henry. You heard us talking about that, right? My mother made a deal that included you without my knowledge.”

“You could have run away with me,” he insisted. “You could have come to find me sooner.” He had clearly thought about it more than once.

“Henry, I understand that you’re angry,” Emma said, her voice low and soothing as she took careful steps toward him. “This has been so unfair to you. But please believe me: I was just as much a prisoner as you have been. It took this long to find a chance to run.”

“I thought you didn’t want me,” he said, almost inaudible.

“I didn’t have a choice. But I have one now. And I am choosing to bring you home.”

He looked at her for a long, long moment, his eyes searching her face. Then he nodded once.

Regina let out the breath she’d been holding. She had no idea what they would have done if he had refused outright to go with them. But there wasn’t time to dwell on it. They needed to be going. Assuming they could get out of here at all. But there was one person who could help. If she would.

“Belle?” she asked.

The tight set of Belle’s mouth said she knew what Regina was asking and couldn’t decide whether to agree.

“Please, Belle,” she coaxed. “You know Henry should never have been kept here in the first place. Will you help us get away?”

After another long moment, she nodded. “For Henry,” she said.

**

They made short work of packing up Henry’s things—one bag of clothes and one of books were enough, and it was what they could carry. Regina was relieved to see the boy had spent the last ten years much like he would have as a prince and not as a prisoner. Then Belle led them to the far end of the great manor house from where they had come in.

“I’m so glad there’s another exit,” Merlin commented as Belle unlocked the plain wooden door.

“What, you think I make my guests go through all the traps every time?”

They whirled to see Rumpelstiltskin behind them, leaning against the corridor wall.

They had all started to fall into position between him and Henry when he waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t bother. If I wanted to take him, your little weapons would be no impediment.”

Regina stepped forward, fireball at the ready.

The imp just snorted derisively and snuffed it out. “As I was saying, _if_ I wanted to take him, I would.”

“But you don’t,” Neal said, picking up on the emphasis. He stepped forward. “I’m glad you decided to let me stay in his place.”

“I _would_ like for you to stay,” Rumpelstiltskin said, his voice laced with longing. “But that isn’t why Henry is free to go. Regina laying a True Love’s Kiss on her wife back there broke my restriction on using magic against Snow White’s subjects.”

“Wife? We’re- not- married-” Regina sputtered, startled. Though, now that he’d said it, it didn’t sound bad at all.

“If you say so,” he said incredulously. “Regardless, I’m no longer upholding my end of the bargain, and therefore I have no claim to the boy.”

“Really?” Emma asked.

But Regina saw the problem with that. “What about Peter Pan? You said being here was the only thing keeping Henry safe from him.”

“As luck would have it, Peter Pan’s magic works only on boys who feel unwanted.” He made a little flourish with his fingers. “Henry knows now that you care. He’s safe from Pan for as long as that’s true. The second that happened, he buggered off back to Neverland.”

“So we can go?” Regina said, needing to be sure. Rumpelstiltskin tended to talk in riddles and tricks of language.

“Weren’t you listening?” he said, starting to get irritated now.

“Hey, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Emma said, then turned to her with a soft smile. “Let’s go home.”

“Are you sure you’re not married?” Rumpelstiltskin asked. “Oh never mind, just go before you make us sick with all the treacle.”

The next thing they knew they were all standing in front of the huge metal door on the side of the mountain again.


	22. Chapter 22

No one was at the gate to meet them, which seemed reasonable enough to Emma. The ship was a much more comfortable place to wait than the side of a mountain, after all. If the ship was gone, that would be a problem, but she didn’t think Tink would have given up on them so quickly, Dark One or no Dark One.

Though it had been snowing when they entered, there was only a dusting on the ground now, not enough to cause any trouble for travel as they started to make their way down. It was much easier going down than up had been—not least because they no longer had to worry what awaited them at the top.

Henry stuck close to Emma’s side as they walked, darting glances at her every few feet. But he didn’t try to ask her questions yet, and she thought she should respect that until he was ready to talk. He’d had a whole lot of change thrown at him today.

“How did you meet my dad?” he blurted finally.

“Uh-” she began, caught off guard. How the hell was she going to explain a one-night stand in a way appropriate for a ten-year old?

“I mean, you’re not married to him.”

“No,” she said slowly.

“You’re- friends?”

That was an answer she could give. “Yes, Neal and I are friends.”

He nodded and fell silent for a few more paces. “But you’re not married to Regina either?”

“No,” she said, again, utterly bewildered about where this was going.

“Do you all live together?”

“Kind of?” she said, feeling in over her head. Being instantly a parent was overwhelming. “We have all been together on Regina’s ship ever since I escaped from my mother’s kingdom.”

He nodded and fell silent again.

This time, she couldn’t help adding, “Why do you ask?”

“I just- I always wondered who my mother was and why she wasn’t around,” he began, and Emma winced. “And now you came to find me, and it seems like maybe I found a whole family?”

That hit Emma like a punch to the gut, and it was all she could do not to gasp.

“A ship is a lot like a family, kid,” Neal said, stepping up to Henry’s other side. He caught her eye and gave her a little nod before going on, “More family than you know what to do with, and you’re stuck with all of us forever!” Then he reached out and ruffled Henry’s hair.

“Hey!” Henry protested, but he was fighting a smile, and Neal was laughing. The weight on Emma’s chest lessened just a bit as she fell back to walk behind them and let Neal take the lead with Henry for a while. Then she felt a hand slip into hers and Regina’s presence let her breathe again.

“How are you doing?” Regina asked.

“I’m fine,” she said, brushing it off.

Regina raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn’t push it. “Okay, we can talk later.”

Emma squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

**

Later turned out to not be until they were back on the ship and underway. They weren’t sure where they were going yet, but hanging around in these wild seas wasn’t something they wanted, so they headed south and could figure out the rest later.

There hadn’t been really be alone and talk before that, because while they had a tent when they stopped for the night, it wasn’t exactly private. When Regina had raised a questioning eyebrow Emma just shook her head. The captain nodded and they slid into the bedroll together, and if they clung to each other extra tightly that night it seemed reasonable, all things considered.

Now there was a heavy door between them and the world, and the crew would not disturb them except for emergencies, and suddenly despite having so much time to think hiking back down the mountain for a day and a half all Emma could do was look at Regina and tremble.

“So here we are,” Regina said, somewhere between casual and like she was talking to a wounded animal. Which, maybe, she was.

“Hiiiiii,” was all Emma could muster.

An awkward silence fell and Regina turned to get ready for bed rather than pressing the issue.

Thoughts circled in Emma’s head, dizzying, pressing against her mouth. She sat down heavily on the bunk with a sigh.

Regina glanced at her, but finished washing up.  

Then, night shirt on, she turned back and sighed herself. “So-”

“I almost died,” Emma blurted.

“Yes,” Regina agreed. “But you didn’t.”

“Because you love me,” she said, unable to stop that either.

“And you love me,” Regina said. “Or so the magic would have us believe.”

“I do,” she insisted. “I do, I do, I do so much and I almost lost you and you almost lost me and we almost-”

In the next moment, Regina was cupping her face and saying, “Emma, Emma, Emma!” increasingly loudly until she snapped out of it.

She took a deep breath and looked into Regina’s eyes and then she surged toward her for a kiss. It wasn’t gentle. It was the raw need to feel her--warm, breathing, alive, hers.

And Regina was right with her, her hands beginning to pull at Emma’s clothes just as fast, kissing back hard and hungry.

Soon they were skin-to-skin on the bed, fingers digging in to shoulders-ribs-thighs, mouths just shy of colliding. And they were together and this was real and they had made it and her mouth needed to know what her skin knew, needed to devour Regina’s body just to be sure-sure-sure.

She rolled her over onto her back in the next moment, then kissed over her chin and down her neck, mouth open, grazing her with more than a little bit of teeth. Regina didn’t seem to mind, her moans lush and encouraging to Emma’s ears as her hands gripped her tight, just shy of hurting.

Emma lavished hot, open kisses on Regina’s shoulder and collarbone and the smooth, soft expanse of her sternum. Then she paused there for a long moment to feel Regina’s heartbeat against her lips, quick but steady, and they were alive.

But then Regina was moving, arching her back to brush a nipple against Emma’s lips, quietly insistent. Emma took the hint, moaning as much as Regina did when her lips closed around a taut nipple and her fingers found the other.

“Yes!” Regina hissed, tangling fingers in her hair.

She spent long moments moving from nipple to nipple, sucking hard and biting and pinching and pulling, her need and Regina’s meeting, colliding, amplifying. Then Regina’s hips were bucking against her and she moaned around the nipple in her mouth to realize how wet she was. Her tongue and lips and teeth traced a path down Regina’s belly in the next moment, ravenous for her in all ways. She hadn’t really even settled between her thighs when the need was so sharp it ached and she had to get her mouth on her, needed that wetness and heat and life.

“God, Emma,” Regina groaned, but the fist in her hair said she didn’t want her to be anywhere but here.

Her desire was piercing and desperate, but it was also as much for affirmation as pleasure, and she traced every curve and plane of Regina, reveling in her silky smoothness, in her taste, in the wetness that was soon smeared from nose to chin. Still, her tongue wasn’t gentle any more than her kisses had been, quick and firm and demanding.

But before long Emma tightened her circles to Regina’s clit and the way her hips were twitching against her mouth said she agreed wholeheartedly. This was so good, so good, and she was torn between wanting to stay here like this forever and wanting to send Regina screaming over the edge. Her tongue was almost fluttering now, and Regina was grabbing her head hard.

“Inside,” Regina gasped. “I need you inside me.”

God, that demand was so hot that Emma moaned around her clit. The liquid velvet that met her fingers had her moaning all over again. She started a steady, deep thrusting.

Regina was hissing, “Yes- yes- yes-” in no time and Emma had to wrap her other arm around her thigh to stay with her. She fucked and filled her, licked and sucked her, listening as her moans got deeper and deeper in her chest as her body tensed.

Then she was coming, her body an arc of taut muscle as she cried out.


	23. Chapter 23

The instant the tension left her, Regina pulled Emma back up her body with the hand that was still in her hair. She started to lick and kiss her own wetness off Emma’s mouth even as she was rolling them over, pressing on top, needing Emma close, closer, closest.

“Hiii-” Emma said again, and it made her smile where her mouth was now against her neck. Then they settled fully into place, her thigh between Emma’s, and the wetness that coated her skin made her gasp. Her hand was there in the next moment, fingertips poised at her entrance and awaiting the “Yes!” that came a moment later. She pressed in and was still for a bit, feeling Emma’s pulse under her lips and around her fingers, feeling Emma, a living, breathing body, an aroused, needy body, who loved her enough to break a powerful curse and was gloriously _here_.

“Don’t tease,” Emma groaned. Regina pressed a sweet, apologetic kiss to her collarbone and then started a motion that was not slow but was deep-deep-deep. “Fuck, yes,” Emma encouraged, and Regina smiled against her skin again. Then she bit down and fucked her harder.

She knew she was going to leave bruises all over Emma’s neck, but it didn’t matter now, not least because she could heal her. She shifted so that she could be completely in the cradle of Emma’s hips, putting her body behind her hand. Emma’s legs wrapped around her and her hips rose to meet her, and she loved the strength of her muscles as much as the way she gave herself so fully, open and vulnerable and hers. So she pushed harder, adding a third finger, the heel of her hand grinding across Emma’s clit with every demanding thrust now, their bodies starting to slide against each other with sweat.

“Yes- yes- yes-” Emma was almost sobbing.

“Mine,” she growled.

“Yours,” Emma gasped agreement.

“Yours,” she added.

“Mine.”

“I love you.”

Emma broke, actually sobbing out her “Love you.”

Regina stopped moving immediately.

“Don’t,” Emma insisted through her tears. “Keep going. Need y-”

That was as far as she got before Regina was fucking her again, hard and deep with every fiber of her being as Emma came apart, sobbing and gasping and clutching at her as her name came brokenly from her lips. Regina felt her tensing, reaching for it, even as tears streamed down her face. 

Emma’s orgasm hit her hard and she clutched Regina so tightly for a moment that it was hard to breathe.

It didn’t last long. Her grip loosened, but she still clung to Regina, crying, letting out all the tension she’d been carrying and unable to release any other way. Regina just murmured soothingly and kissed her face until the tears slowed, then stopped.

Eventually, she went floppy with a little intoxicated giggle. “I needed that,” she admitted.   

“Seems like it,” Regina said, pressing sweet kisses to her neck and shoulder. “I did too,” she admitted.

Once Emma had stopped sniffling, Regina kissed her slow and deep and sweet. This was pure adoration now, the joy of reconnection, the desperation and fear that had conditioned their lives for so long dispelled at last. She let herself melt into Emma, feeling relaxed and content as warm hands stroked over her skin from neck to knees.

Slowly, slowly, their kisses moved from gentle to a bit more insistent, and fingertips started brushing breasts and digging into hips-thighs-buttocks. Regina felt desire sparking into life in her chest again, and trailed kisses down onto Emma’s neck once more, too gentle to bruise now but still intent. She mapped the curve of her shoulder, the ridge of her collarbone, the plane of her sternum.

“Hey,” Emma greeted.

“Hey,” she echoed back, a bit startled. “Is this alright?”

“Oh yeah,” Emma encouraged, cupping her face.

“Good,” she hummed, kissing and nuzzling around one breast, between, to the other, and back again.

“In fact,” Emma drawled, “I wouldn’t mind if you-” she trailed off into a little groan as Regina’s lips wrapped around a nipple.

“Mm?” Regina prompted.

“That. Just that.”

Regina smiled, then started sucking lightly.

“Yes,” Emma sighed, cradling her head against her chest.

She spent long moments adoring Emma’s breasts, giving her nuzzles and kisses and light little nips between increasingly intent sucking, relishing how her breathing got heavier. Just as she felt Emma draw breath to ask for more, she started kissing down, getting a happy chuckle in return. She looked up at Emma and grinned, then continued until she was laying on her belly between Emma’s thighs.

“You look good down there,” Emma murmured. At Regina’s teasing eyebrow, she amended, “You always look good.”

“Good girl,” Regina hummed. Then she dipped her tongue into Emma’s wetness.

This, too, was slow exploration, rememorizing the heat and slickness and shape of her, the sighs and groans that she counted herself so lucky to get to hear. She luxuriated in it for long minutes until the clenching of Emma’s hand in the sheets beside her told her it was time to focus more. She moved to make slow, steady strokes directly on her clit with the flat of her tongue now, and Emma’s gasp was glorious.

She didn’t make her wait, much. Her tongue gradually moved faster, firmer, more direct, corresponding with Emma’s hums of pleasure deepening into moans. Soon she was almost fluttering, interspersed with little moments of sucking, and Emma’s hips were twitching against her mouth, smearing wetness from nose to chin. It made her smile. Then she wrapped both arms around her thighs and held her tight to her face, sucking steadily and listening to her moans become hisses of “Yes! Fuck! Just like that! Regina! So good!”

Emma’s second orgasm was gentler, but just as much of a release as her sobbing had been, more of a sigh than a cry but leaving her just as lethargic and smiling.

“We should do this every day,” Emma murmured, grinning.

“Oh yeah?” Regina said, moving back up and draping herself over her.

“Mmhmm,” Emma said, eyes closed. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of that before.”

“Must be all the mortal peril getting in the way of daily sex,” Regina teased.

“Yeah, forget that. Let’s go get lost somewhere.”

“Yeah?” Regina chuckled.

“Yeah, just, like, roam-” and she drew out the word, “the seas. You and me.”

“And Marian and Merlin and Neal and Henry and the rest of the crew,” she pointed out.

“Henry, right.” She sighed. “Damn, we can’t raise a kid on a boat.”

A little chill raced up Regina’s spine. “Pinocchio came out alright,” she pointed out.

“He swears like a- well- sailor,” Emma said, her brow furrowed as it came out. She was silent for a long moment. At last, she said, “But it’s not really about raising him here.”

Regina hoped her “No?” was noncommittal.

“I have to go back. I mean, I don’t want to,” she added quickly. “I _really_ don’t want to. But we have to save all those people from my mother.”

How did she look so noble and determined when lying in Regina’s bed with her sweat half-dried from being well fucked? Why would she so casually suggest a course of action that would separate them forever? And, most importantly of all, why was Regina going to go along with it?


	24. Chapter 24

Emma felt the shift in the air immediately. It was just like her to ruin a moment where they were finally safe and together with proposing that they rush off into danger again.

“Hey, c’mere,” she said, cupping Regina’s face and kissing her.

When Regina’s kiss back was a bit stiff, she rolled them over so that she could see her better. “Hey, I love you, remember? So much. No matter what. We’ll be okay.”

Some of the tension left Regina’s body, and Emma pressed a sweet kiss to the tip of her nose. “I love you,” she said. And another on her right cheek. “I love you.” Left cheek. “I love you.”

Regina was fighting a smile now, but the fact that she was fighting it gave Emma pause. “No?”

“Show me,” Regina prompted, her voice a little unsteady.

Emma could do that. Her next kiss was to Regina’s lips, sweet-sweet-sweet and this time she responded. She kissed down onto her chin after that, but instead of going straight to her neck she nuzzled along her jawline to press sweet kisses to her ear, along her hairline, to each eyebrow and eyelid. Then she moved back to kiss her mouth again, slow and adoring, and got a little hum.

“There’s my girl,” she murmured.

That got her a small smile, and she smiled back, then kissed down onto her neck. She nuzzled and kissed every inch, from shoulder to shoulder and ear to ear, appreciating her slowly, methodically, thoroughly. Emma kissed down Regina’s arm next, the firm curve of a bicep and the vulnerable inside of an elbow and the little bump of a wrist bone. She kissed the palm of her hand and each fingertip. And then she moved to the other hand did it again in reverse until she was back up at Regina’s shoulder. She nuzzled her way to her chest and then paused to press her ear against her heart, luxuriating in the strong, steady sound of it.

She felt Regina’s fingers stroke through her hair and looked up. Regina had a real, full smile now, and her eyes were full of emotion. _I love you_ , she wanted to say, but instead she put her lips where Regina’s heart was beating faster now for a long moment to try to press it into her skin.

When she pulled back, she was faced with Regina’s breasts, and her adoration spiked into desire. Fighting it back, she brought a hand up to cup one, liking how well it fit in her hand. She stroked her thumb everywhere but the nipple, trying to behave herself.

“Emma,” Regina said.

“Yeah?”

“Touch me.”

“I am touching you?”

“ _Touch_ me.”

“Oh!”

She brushed her thumb across a taut nipple and they both sighed with relief.

“Good girl,” Regina murmured.

Emma smiled, then leaned down to trace her tongue over the other one, liking how it was both soft and firm. She curled her tongue around it for a bit, then wrapped her lips around to suck, closing her eyes to focus on the feeling. God, Regina felt good in her mouth, and she was groaning almost as much from the touching as Regina was from being touched.

But Regina’s groans reminded her that her own pleasure was not really the point here, and she moved to suck on the other nipple, using her fingers to roll the one she had left behind. She still luxuriated in the sensation for long moments, though, switching back and forth between them, before dragging herself away.

It would be easy to rush, to get between Regina’s legs as fast as possible and taste her like they both wanted. But Emma hadn’t forgotten that this was about showing Regina just how much she loved her. And so she lavished kisses over the underside of Regina’s breasts, her ribcage, the little curve of her belly. And then she kissed her hipbones, the strong muscle of her thigh, and the inside of her knee. Her shinbone was next, and the top of her foot, and her toes.

She could feel both of their anticipation rising as she worked her way back up the other leg. When she reached Regina’s thigh, it twitched under her mouth. Half way up she was aware of Regina holding her breath.

When she pressed a soft, closed-mouthed kiss to Regina’s sex, she got a gusty sigh. “I wish I could be frustrated with you.”

“But you can’t?”

“But I can’t.”

Emma grinned.

“Don’t make me change my mind,” Regina growled, and it was affectionate, but Emma took the hint. She did feather kisses over her, but not for long, soon making a long, slow, soft swipe with her tongue.

“Good girl,” Regina breathed.

Fuck, this was everything. _Everything_. The intimacy of it alone would have made her weep, but the sensations of heat and slickness and the velvet hardness of Regina’s clit under her tongue nearly overwhelmed her. Knowing that this woman was her true love on top of that threatened to shatter her into tiny pieces, but instead she reached up with one hand to twine their fingers, anchoring them both.

She let her tongue re-learn every bit of Regina, around and across and inside. Then, slowly, so slowly, she found a rhythm, caressing her clit, then sliding down to dip inside. She went easy at first, but listened hard to Regina’s responses, giving her more as her groans got deeper and her gasps more frequent.

Soon she was rolling her tongue across her, firm and steady, and Regina’s other hand was cradling her head against her as she encouraged, “Yes- my love- just like that.”

Emma kept going just like that, trying to press all of her adoration into Regina’s body with her tongue. Regina was tensing now, curling up into herself as the pleasure built, and Emma stayed with her, switching to sucking on her clit to make sure the sensation never slacked for a moment.

Regina’s orgasm, when it came, seemed to go on forever. Emma was happy to coax every bit of pleasure her body had to give, letting her tongue worship her the way she deserved until Regina pushed weakly at her head.

Then she nuzzled her way back up and lay beside her, propped on one elbow, stroking a sweaty strand of hair out of her face and smiling down at her.

“Now do you believe me?”

“Mmh?” Regina asked, orgasm-drunk.

 “Do you believe I love you?”

“Yes,” Regina said emphatically. Then she reached up and pushed at Emma’s shoulder.

Taking the hint, she rolled onto her back, and Regina draped herself over her. Her head fit just right against Emma’s shoulder, and it made her sigh happily.

“I’ve missed this,” Emma said, wrapping her arms around Regina.

“Mm?” Regina murmured, nearly asleep. Her hum vibrated against Emma’s shoulder where her head was.

“I mean, I definitely love having a real bed again, but mostly I meant the way you curl up almost on top of me like you can’t get close enough. I missed it. I like it.”

“You’re a good pillow,” Regina said, sounding a little defensive, but she made no move to withdraw the arm and a leg she’d wrapped around her.

It struck Emma, suddenly, again, how they had ended up here—pawns in centuries-long schemes, and everything seemed to insist that they be enemies, but they had come together and fallen in love anyway and survived unimaginable peril along the way—and this- being here, safe in their own bed- as the outcome against all odds was suddenly absurd. She chuckled.

“Not as much when you do that,” Regina complained, burrowing her face against her tighter.

“Sorry,” she said, smiling fondly at Regina’s sleepy grumpiness and stroking her hair. “No more laughing for me.”

“Not what I meant.” She was almost inaudible now.

“I know. Sleep.”

But she already was.


	25. Chapter 25

Regina called a meeting of her senior staff the next morning. As much as she dreaded what it would mean, deposing Snow was the right thing to do—and anyway, there was always a chance the crew would vote against it.

“You have a good night?” Marian asked quietly, grinning as she leaned against the wall beside her.

“Hush,” she said, feeling her cheeks get hot.

Marian just laughed. Then she asked, loud enough for the assembled crewmembers to hear, “What’s next?”

“Now that we have rescued Henry, we have some options,” Regina began, not sure how to broach it.

“I think we have the mother of all jobs to pull,” Tink said.

“What do you mean?” Mulan asked.

“Well, Regina became the pirate we know and love because Snow White was such a colossal bitch. No offense,” she said as an aside to Emma.

“None taken,” Emma answered.

“Anyway, we steal from royals who mistreat their subjects, right? And Snow is the worst of all. But we were always at a disadvantage while Regina couldn’t use magic.” She held out her arms. “But now?”

“Now we can rob her blind,” Marian said, smiling.

“Uh,” Emma said, “I’d- rather you didn’t.”

“Oh, sorry,” Tink said. “I guess she’s still your blood.”

“No- not that. I’d like to go and depose her, actually.” The gathering fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop. “If you’re willing to help,” she added, awkwardly.

“Regina?” Marian asked, and her tone said she’d drawn the same conclusion Regina had the night before.

“It’s a big risk, but a big payoff if we succeed,” Regina said, giving her honest assessment instead of responding to the concern in Marian’s voice. “I want everyone to think about it and then we’ll have a vote this evening. Dismissed.”

Regina turned to her log to make some notes, studiously not looking up while the others stood there startled for a second, or when they started murmuring to each other, or as their boots thudded on the way out.

When she finally looked up again, only Emma remained, shifting her weight from foot to foot anxiously. It prompted her to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Regina snorted disbelief. “Out with it.”

“I just- Henry-” Emma stopped.

“What about him?”

“I want to talk, and- get to know him-” she trailed off.

“But?” Regina prompted gently.

“But what are we going to talk about? Hey, how was being imprisoned your whole life? I mean, I guess we do have that in common.” Emma paused. “But it’s kind of a downer, you know- and-”

“Knots,” Regina cut her off before she could work herself up too much.

“What?”

“Teach him to tie line. And then you have time to talk.”

Emma’s face lit up and she kissed Regina quickly on the cheek as she went.

**

There wasn’t a lot of reason for people to visit Regina at the wheel, usually. Of course, Emma had been her frequent companion for the past many weeks, but today she was forward, sitting on the deck with a length of line and her son, and Regina was entirely without distraction from her brooding.

Emma and her son. Each of them drank the sight of each other in hungrily when they thought no one was looking. And no one was looking, because there was work to do. Except Regina, whose heart soared to see Emma so happy between aching at what it all meant.

“Hey, Neal!” Emma called out suddenly.

“Yeah?”

As Emma asked, “A little help?” Regina saw she’d gotten herself tangled up in the line.

“You’re a mess,” Neal laughed, but he came over to free her and then showed her the right way to do the knot she’d mangled so badly. He and Henry were focused on each other, too, and weren’t they a happy little family, the three of them?

She knew Emma loved her. She did. But it couldn’t possibly be enough. Not for this.

“Regina.”

It was Marian. She should have known she wouldn’t leave it be.

“Don’t.”

“Regina,” she said again, firmer.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

They both knew she was deflecting, and Marian’s next question was almost unbearably gentle. “What are you going to do when she’s on that throne?”

“We have to put her there first. Now please,” she said through gritted teeth, “don’t.”

“Alright.”

**

“Well, what do you think?” Regina asked abruptly when they all met again that evening. There was no point in any preamble, though she desperately wanted to stall. She was, if it was possible, more nervous before this vote than she had been when they were heading to steal from the Dark One.

“I think we should do it,” Merlin said. “I think the risk is manageable, the reward is good, and it’s the right thing to do. The longer Snow rules, the more people will suffer.”

Regina nodded and turned to Mulan, who was standing beside him.

“I agree that it’s the right thing to do,” Mulan said decisively. “And I also think we should do it for Emma.”

“And Henry,” Neal put in. “He shouldn’t be exiled from his homeland either. And a pirate ship is no place for a child.”

Regina couldn’t disagree with him. With Pinocchio, they hadn’t had a choice. Now they did.

Tink was next. “You all _know_ I think it’s a good idea.”

Regina forced a small smile.

“Marian?”

Marian met her eyes for a long, long moment, then said, “I vote with the majority.”

“Alright,” Regina said. “Let’s go dethrone a tyrant.”

**

Usually, once Regina had made up her mind to do something, even a very risky something, she moved from worrying about it to planning. But this decision was different. It weighed on her chest enough to make her feel slightly short of breath. It weighed on her mind whenever she let it wander. And so, as they got ready for bed that night her thoughts circled like vultures.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked. She’d been distracted by the challenge of Henry earlier in the day, but now that they were alone she clearly knew Regina too well not to notice something wasn’t right.

“Nothing,” Regina said, because it was nothing that Emma could do anything about. Nothing that anyone could do anything about. She just had to push through and do it.

Emma’s mouth twisted a bit. “It’s not nothing, but you can tell me when you’re ready.” She laid down. “Come be my little spoon?”

Regina scoffed a little in spite of herself.

“No? Gonna use me as a pillow again?” Emma’s tone was light and teasing.

“Maybe,” she said, feeling the ice in her chest thaw despite herself. How could this be so easy when everything else was so hard? She slid into the covers and lay her head on Emma’s chest, and the steady thrum of her heart had her eyes pricking with tears she willed not to fall. This was so precious. And so precarious.

But then Emma’s arms settled around her, cradling her against her body, and she felt almost content. She still had Emma. She still had this. And she was damned if she was going to waste a single minute of it wondering about when it would end.


	26. Chapter 26

The next morning found Emma on deck with Henry again, still patiently passing along the knotwork Neal had taught her as a pretext for conversation and now also trying to ignore the vague feeling of unease she’d had since last night. What was going on with Regina?  

“Ugh, I’m hopeless at this!” Henry grumbled, drawing her attention.

“Nah, Kid, you’re way better than I was at first,” she assured him.

“Really?”

“Yeah! Neal thought I was never going to learn.” She chuckled a little bit at the memory of how hard a time she’d had.

“Well that’s good to know,” he said, and fell silent again, trying to make the motions she’d shown him.

After a few minutes, he looked up at her speculatively.

“What?”

“Why is everyone so tense?”

That caught her totally off guard. “Um-”

“It’s really obvious something serious is happening. The whole crew isn’t laughing and talking like before, and you’re not paying attention hardly at all,” he said with a hint of a petulant whine.

“Okay,” Emma said slowly, trying to buy herself time. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been planning to tell him. She just was hoping for more time because she didn’t have any idea how. Taking a deep breath, she decided to be direct. “We decided last night that we’re going to go back to my mother’s kingdom and-” she paused. “And take over,” she decided at last.

“So you would be queen?”

“Yeah, I guess I would,” Emma said, startled. She hadn’t really thought much about it, just that she had to stop her mother’s reign of terror.

“Do you want to be queen?”

The question hit her like a punch to the gut, so she tried to deflect. “My mother is a very bad woman and stopping her is the right thing to do.”

Henry picked up on the subtext right away. “So you _don’t_ want to be queen?”

“Well, once she’s gone it’s my responsibility,” she admitted. She needed to change the subject. She needed to think. She needed to breathe. “What about you? Would you like that? Being a prince?”

“What do princes do?”

Another unexpected question. She knew what her mother had required of her—etiquette and dainty femininity and excruciating politeness where nothing was ever direct. But what would she do for her son and heir? “Uh, princes learn a lot so that they can be good leaders when the time comes, I guess?”

“I like to read,” Henry said. “Sounds good.” Then he turned back to the line he was tying.

For him, it was that simple. For Emma, the complications were only just beginning.

**

The return trip was uneventful. They ran George’s blockade in the dark of night again. This time there was no moon, and they escaped totally unscathed. Emma did spare a thought for poor Grumpy, killed here so senselessly the last time. But mostly the journey was just days of sun and wind and line as they sailed down out of the far northern seas, across the more inhabited regions, and to the closest port to Snow’s castle that they dared.

They planned to travel overland from here, and Emma was very grateful that Regina’s magic would now disguise them as they fanned out in twos and threes to gather supplies and learn what news they could.

In the evening, they all gathered on the ship one last time before sending a skeleton crew, and Henry, off under Tink’s captaincy for safety.

“What did we learn?” Regina asked.

“As we suspected, the nobility is really chafing under Snow’s paranoia and iron-fistedness,” Mulan said. “They’ll probably welcome anyone to get rid of her.”

“Excellent,” Regina said. “What else?”

“So,” Neal said, looking down and shuffling his feet. “There’s a grand ball happening at the palace soon.”

“My mother certainly doesn’t miss me, does she?” Emma muttered bitterly.

“Maybe not,” Neal said, looking even more uncomfortable now. “It’s to find a suitable prince to marry Princess Emma.”

All Emma could do was stare, open-mouthed.

“What, is Snow just going to marry her off in absentia?” Regina asked.

“It seems that since we were here last, there was an announcement that Princess Emma returned home safely,” Merlin said.

“They’re just pretending I’m there?”

“I don’t know,” Merlin said. “What I heard was that the Princess has cut back her social schedule, but she has been seen.”

“I- What- Who-” Emma sputtered.

“I heard it, too, and I don’t know either,” Marian put in. “But I think we know how to find out.”

“How?” Emma demanded.

“We crash the party. And it’s a masquerade ball so disguises are easy.”

**

Emma knew she needed to do this. She needed to for herself, because if she just ran away with her newly-found family and didn’t confront her mother she would always regret it. But more importantly, she needed to do it for all the subjects suffering under Snow’s rule. Her personal grievance might fade with time, but she could never forgive herself if she left everyone in her mother’s kingdom to never-ending persecution.

Knowing that it was the right thing to do didn’t make her feel any less like she was about to vomit on her dainty little lady shoes, however. There hadn’t been much time to waste if they were going to make it to the castle in time, because the journey would take several days. Regina had magicked up some suitable clothes, hired a coach fit for a noblewoman, and off they had gone before Emma had any time to second-guess it. She and Regina were to play fancy ladies, and the others, as armed to the teeth as the ship’s stores could make them, would be their entourage.

“Are you okay?” Regina asked quietly.

“I have to be,” she said, looking away.

“Hey,” Regina said, catching her chin with warm fingers to make her look up. “I’m with you, okay? Always.”

She felt better immediately and couldn’t help smiling.

That was for the best, because in the next moment the carriage was slowing, then stopping. Merlin, who had been judged to be the only one with good enough manners to pass as a coachman, came to the door and helped them down one at a time. A steward was standing beside the door, looking bored.

“Your invitation, please?” he droned.

“Ah, yes, our invitation. Wherever did I put it?” Regina slipped so immediately into the manner of an airheaded noblewoman that it was all Emma could do not to turn and stare.

“Oh, here it is,” she said after a moment searching through the velvet pouch at her waist. She handed over a piece of parchment.

As he unrolled it, Regina gave a subtle wave of her hand, and in the next moment the man was nodding contentedly at a completely blank sheet of parchment.

“We’ll just have our retinue come in to settle the horses,” Regina said next, and he nodded at that too and stepped aside to wave in a score of heavily armed sailors. He didn’t even blink when, with a wave of Regina’s hand, they were all dressed in Snow’s livery.

A few moments later, they were inside, and the others were off, fanning out to execute the plan. And then it was just Emma and Regina.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

They headed to the great hall.


	27. Chapter 27

Regina was startled by how easy this was. Not that they’d done anything, yet. But being here again, in this castle where she’d spent so many miserable years, both before Leopold’s death and after, was much easier than she had expected. Playing her part came easily, too, the dance steps coming back to her and her polite giggle for the terrible jokes made by the various noblemen not sounding too rusty from disuse. They might just pull this off.

She glanced over at Emma and saw that she was also getting along like she’d been born for this—which, perhaps she was. Or at least highly trained. She was circulating expertly through the room, face well hidden behind her mask as she made polite conversation with people she’d known her entire life as if just meeting them.

Suddenly there came a fanfare of trumpets and everyone stopped and turned to the doorway. Regina turned with them only because to do otherwise would draw attention. She tried not to look too bored waiting to hear which minor noble this was.  

“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests of the House of White, I present Her Royal Highness, Princess Emma.”

That jolted Regina out of her boredom immediately, and it was all she could do not to stare harder than was polite. A blonde woman came in, smiling precisely the right amount and nodding at the most important nobles. She looked a lot like Emma. Almost uncannily except that her hair was limp rather than gently curling and what was visible of her face looked a little taut and strained. But she was not Emma.

When people stopped staring and went back to their conversations, she made her way over to Emma. The two of them moved into an alcove along one side of the hall so they could hopefully speak without being overheard.

“What do you think?” Emma asked. “Should we do it?”

This was one of the weaknesses in the plan—or, maybe, a place where they didn’t have much of a plan. They needed to get the impostor alone, but just how they would do it was not settled, just some vague idea of having Emma convince her.

“We’ll have to try it,” Regina sighed. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

Regina did her best to watch without seeming to as Emma made her way over to the pretend princess and struck up a conversation. Emma was quite charming when she wanted to be, and now she pulled out all the stops, laughing and flattering and almost flirting. But when she tipped her head toward the side of the hall, the other blonde shook her head—once, twice, and Emma knew not to push a third time. She curtseyed politely and headed back to Regina’s side.

“What now?” she asked.

Just then, the orchestra struck up a new tune, one where the dance had lots of twirling and energetic motion, and Regina had an idea.

“Leave it to me,” she said, moving to take the spot three dancers down from the false Emma. This dance didn’t have partners really, just temporary matches that switched every set. She moved close to the woman she’d ended up with for the first formation, and away, and to one side, and to the other, and then came a grand spin that had fabric floating in graceful arcs all over the dance floor.

Then it was time to change partners, and who should take her hands but the false Princess Emma, exactly as planned. She smiled and then it was time to step closer again, and she went a little farther than was appropriate, close enough that her body shielded her hand from view, and had the girl’s heart out of her chest before anyone was the wiser.

“Say nothing,” she whispered as she tucked it into a fold of her gown, and the impostor, of course, obeyed.

The dance went on for three more sets after that, and Regina danced them all gracefully with partner after partner. When it was over, she curtseyed politely to the young man she’d ended with and, slightly out of breath, made her way back over to Emma, tipping her head to encourage her to follow her out of the hall and into a side chamber she remembered from when she was queen.

“What are you doing?” Emma hissed as soon as the door shut behind them, eyes wide. She’d clearly spotted what Regina had done. Hopefully no one else had.

“I’m getting her to come to us,” Regina answered, pulling out the heart. “Do you have a better idea?”

Emma’s mouth twisted in disapproval, but she didn’t say anything.

Regina impressed her will on the heart and said, “Come to me. Make whatever excuses you have to. I’m in the antechamber.”

They didn’t have long to wait. The woman entered a few moments later, telling someone behind her to give her a few minutes to herself.

Emma, for all her reluctance to go along with this plan just a moment earlier, seized the impostor as soon as the door was closed again, pressing her back against the wall and demanding, “Who are you?”

The girl drew breath to scream, and Regina quickly gripped her heart and commanded, “Be calm. We just want to talk.”

“Who are you?” Emma asked again.

“I’m Princess Emma,” the impostor said, defiant.

“No, _I’m_ Emma,” Emma nearly growled. “Who are you really?”

“Tell the truth,” Regina said, using the heart to make it a command again.

The pretend princess’s resistance melted away, and she immediately answered, “I’m Jennifer, Your Highness.”

“And what are you doing pretending to be me, Jennifer?”

“Queen Snow needed to keep up appearances when you ran away, so she sent out guards to search the kingdom for someone who looked enough like you.” Her defiance was coming back now that Regina was no longer controlling her. “I was happy to come. Being a princess is so much better than being a merchant’s daughter. I can’t imagine why anyone would be so ungrateful that they would run away from a wonderful life like this. There are such pretty dresses and you have servants to do everything you command.”

“It’s also a prison,” Emma said, almost to herself. “Be glad you haven’t found that out yet.” Then she shook herself. “Well Jennifer, speaking of pretty dresses, I’m going to need that one.”


	28. Chapter 28

Trading their clothes was a simple matter of Regina flicking her wrist. That just left figuring out what to do with Jennifer, and Emma was stumped. Should they tie her up in here? But what if someone found her before they were able to complete the rest of the plan?

But Regina didn’t hesitate. “Where did you say you were from, Jennifer?”

“I didn’t.”

As Regina’s hand touched the heart again, she immediately answered, “Arlington.”

“Thank you,” Regina said. She stepped forward, pushed the woman’s heart back into her chest, and poofed her away, all before Emma could do much more than blink.  

“What- Where-” she sputtered.

“I sent her back to her village.” Regina tilted her head. “What did you think?”

“Good idea,” Emma said. Then she changed the subject. “Now what?”

“Now we make sure the others are in place, and we make our move.”

Regina had just pulled a small mirror from the pouch she carried when there was a rapping on the door.

“Your Highness? Her Majesty the Queen is looking for you.”

“Shit,” Emma hissed under her breath. At Regina’s frantic gesture, she answered, “Coming!” Then she turned back to her and whispered, “What are we gonna do?”

“Go,” Regina whispered back. “I’ll signal to you when it’s time. Just- act natural.”

Emma nodded, and had her hand on the door when Regina hissed, “The mask!” and poofed it onto her.

“Thanks,” Emma whispered. Then she squared her shoulders and went to meet her mother.

**

The evening had been mostly easy so far. Emma had been trained excruciatingly well on how to comport herself at an event like this, and it had come out without any thought as she circulated among the courtiers—the proper softness of voice, the appropriate emptiness of conversation—and she had fit in more seamlessly as a stealthy intruder than she ever had as a rebellious princess. But now she was on her way to see her own mother, and Emma was sure she’d realize in about half a second that her fake had been traded for the real deal. 

Snow had a wide smile plastered on her face as Emma stepped onto the dais at one end of the great hall, but it didn’t stop her from hissing, “Where have you been?”

“I just needed a moment,” she said, knowing it was pathetic.

Snow gave a tiny snort. “What you need is _not_ part of our arrangement.” It was truly amazing how vicious she could be while looking like sweetness and light.

It was then that Emma understood. “You don’t even realize I’m not her, do you?”

Snow turned ever-so slightly to look at her fully, and a fleeting look of shock crossed her face before she schooled her expression back into polite interest.

“I suppose I don’t blame you,” Emma went on, her own expression also carefully bland for the sake of onlookers. “She’s the silly little airhead you always wanted.”

“She’s quite well read, actually,” Snow corrected mildly.

“And enamored of being a princess.” Emma couldn’t bring herself to care about the bitterness creeping into her tone. “That was smart, finding a fake.”

“It’s a family tradition,” Snow said, and Emma suddenly remembered the story about her father the shepherd being passed off as his twin brother the prince. She glanced over at the other side of the dais where he was talking to one of the dwarves. Then her mother went on, “But regardless, you’re home.”

Emma’s mouth quirked wryly. “Something like that.”

Snow looked at her sharply again, demanding, “What does that mean?”

“You don’t care where I was or why I left. Only that appearances have been upheld.”

“I was worried sick about you,” Snow insisted.

“Bullshit,” Emma growled, loud enough for nearby courtiers to stop talking.

The two of them smiled and looked casually around the room until the conversations resumed.

“Emma, please, don’t make a scene,” Snow urged.

Just then, she caught sight of Regina off to one side, and she gave a nod. “Oh, you have no idea,” Emma murmured. Then she turned to face out into the room and raised her voice. “Excuse me, everyone.”

“Emma,” Snow hissed.

Emma ignored her as the room quieted obediently. “I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for attending this lovely occasion. It’s a day that will be remembered for a long time, I think. It’s a day of change.” The assembled courtiers clapped politely.

But Emma was just getting started. She slipped her mask off and heard her father gasp when he realized it was her. “For many years, our kingdom has been a certain way. Our queen told us that there were some people we didn't want here, because they are violent and dangerous and corrupting. Yes, some magical beings might be good people, but how could we tell the difference? And so, her policy was to identify and supervise them. Just to be safe. It was done in a very humane way, in a very nice way, she told us, but we needed a total and complete shutdown of magical beings in our country until we could figure out what was going on.”

People were starting to look around at each other and shift uncomfortably. Good, she had their attention.

“Emma, stop!” Snow hissed. Even now she wasn’t willing to give up the public pretense of politeness.

 “But Queen Snow didn’t stop there, did she? How could we be sure there weren’t magical beings still among us? A closer eye had to be kept, on everyone. She told us, you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide.”

People were murmuring darkly now. She had them right where she wanted them.

“You’re leaving me no choice,” Snow said. She signaled to the guards standing around the edge of the room.

Emma just ignored her and went on speaking to the crowd. “But that was alright. For people who weren’t magical. For a while. Except that all that security cost money, didn’t it? A large navy to hold off King George cost money. So the tithing was increased. And if people went hungry sometimes in order to pay their taxes, it was for the greater good. If people who disagreed with Her Majesty’s policies disappeared sometimes, it was the cost of making- the kingdom- great- again.”

The guards were just a few steps from the dais now.

“That all ends today.” Emma turned to her mother. “Queen Snow, your reign of terror is finished.”

“Seize her.”


	29. Chapter 29

Regina watched with her heart in her throat as the guards converged and stepped onto the platform. When the disguised sailors took Snow and Charming into custody instead of Emma, the room dissolved into chaos. A couple of people cheered. One voice shouted, “Protect Queen Snow!” and got a few affirmative responses. But mostly it was just a loud babble of confusion.

They had all been right there with Emma as she spoke. Regina knew they would respond if someone took control, but Emma didn’t look like she realized she needed to. Nausea washed over her as she realized what she was about to do, but she fought it down and raised her voice, “Queen Emma! Queen Emma! Queen Emma!”

The people closest to her turned in surprise, but quickly smiled and picked up the chant. “Queen Em-ma! Queen Em-ma!” It built through the room, louder and louder as more people joined in.

Soon it had swept up the entire gathering, and people were cheering. Emma blushed furiously at the attention and dipped her head in solemn acknowledgement.

Regina knew she should help consolidate Emma’s power. There were proclamations to make to the kingdom and messages to send to allies and Snow’s supporters to round up and imprison, but she just couldn’t. Her crew would do what needed to be done. She needed some air.

**

Regina didn’t know how long she’d been out here. The air was crisp, and it was blissfully quiet, and she’d changed back into her shirt and pants, and if it hadn’t been for the weight on her chest she would have been able to breathe easily. But the weight would be there no matter where she was, and at least out here she didn’t have to put on her polite face, and so she stayed right where she was.

“So this is your tree, huh?”

Marian had found her. “Yes.” She hoped her first officer would take the hint.

“I see why you love it. It’s beautiful.” Marian never would take a hint.

“It’s one thing that I missed when I left here,” Regina found herself confessing without quite meaning to. Marian could always do that, somehow, say the right thing to get her to talk. It was helpful and infuriating all at once.

“Now you’ve come back to it.”

“I wish I could, in some ways,” Regina said, then stopped. She sighed and looked down where her arms were hugging her own stomach.

Marian just came and sat beside her and let her get there in her own time.

“It’s the only thing I have left of my father, you know,” Regina said at last, voice sounding rusty to her own ears as she looked up and away. “And he was the only person who ever loved me.”

“Was. Not anymore,” Marian reminded her simply.

“Yes.” That true love’s kiss had proven that.

“Is it enough?”

“I can’t be somebody’s trophy wife again, Mar,” she said all in a rush, turning to look at her for the first time.

“You can’t possibly think she’d ask that of you,” Marian chided.

“I don’t think she’ll have a choice,” Regina sighed, looking at the tree again. “Her rule will be precarious enough starting this way without weakening herself by sharing power on top of that. Consorts are to be seen and not heard,” she added bitterly.

“You have to talk to her about this,” Marian insisted. “She’s starting to make plans that include you.”

“Thank you for helping her make plans,” Regina said.

“Regina,” Marian said severely.

She turned back and held up her hands in surrender. “I will.”

“She asked me to find you, you know.”

“I thought so.” She swallowed hard. As she stood up, she had a horrifying thought. “Please tell me she’s not staying in the royal chamber.”

“No, she’s in her old bedroom. Down a floor.”

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. Then she steeled herself.

**

She stopped outside Emma’s rooms for a long, long moment before she knocked, calling “It’s Regina.”

Emma’s “Come in” was immediate, like she was expecting her. Probably she was.

Emma was brushing out her hair at the vanity, wearing some beribboned monstrosity of a night dress that just screamed that it had originally been chosen by Snow White. “Hey,” she greeted, trying, and failing, to sound casual.

“Hey,” Regina said back. She stood just inside the closed door, feeling trapped, feeling out of place, wanting to crawl into Emma’s lap and knowing it wouldn’t help a damn thing.

“I missed you,” Emma said next, lightly and without turning to look at her.

“I needed some air. I-” She had no idea how to go on, so she didn’t.  

“I get it,” Emma said. “It has to be weird, being here.”

Regina was relieved that Emma understood as she admitted, “It’s not easy.”

“I think it’ll get easier once we get settled. Get a routine, you know.”

“A- routine?” Regina repeated stupidly.                                                                      

“Yeah, like Mondays we take petitions and Tuesdays we go riding, whatever.”

Emma was planning a life with her. Emma was planning a life with her and it was wonderful to be so loved. Emma was planning a life with her _here_ , a life of being a royal possession to be displayed again, and it hollowed out her insides to think about it.

Regina realized she’d been silent too long when Emma put down the brush and turned to look at her. “Those were just examples. We can do things however you want.”

“However I want,” she echoed again, sarcastic this time.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You have yet to ask if this is what I want.”

“But- but y- you agreed to help depose my mother?” Emma sputtered.

“Because it was the right thing to do! Not because I want to play the good little queen again!”

There, it was out. A heavy silence fell.

After a long, long moment Emma spoke. “I didn’t think-”

“Of course you didn’t,” Regina snapped. “You really are Snow White’s daughter.” She hadn’t really meant to say that, but everything hurt so badly that she lashed out.

“What the hell, Regina?”

“Every memory I have of this castle is a nightmare. I wandered around here for years with nothing but my hatred to keep me company. And before that- the king-” She couldn’t bring herself to talk about that. “I can’t be a consort in this castle again,” she finished simply.


	30. Chapter 30

Since it happened, Emma had done her best not to think about the moment when Peter Pan’s shadow had stabbed her through the heart. There was nothing about the sensation of being ripped apart that she wanted to relive. But she was experiencing it all over again now. Regina didn’t want a life with her. Regina would rather give up on her than do this with her. Regina thought she-

“I’m not my grandfather,” she blurted, still dazed from the pain of it all.

Regina blinked. “What?”

“I’m not my grandfather,” she said again, stronger now. “I’m not going to treat you like he did.”

Regina waved a dismissive hand. “You’re not going to have a choice.”

“I’m not going to rape you!”

“No! No, of course not,” Regina said immediately. “But,” and her voice lost its conciliatory tone, “I’ll be a pretty thing to look at, chained to your side and never consulted on the important decisions.”

That didn’t make any sense. “No, you’ll be my partner! By my side, yes, but as my equal. Making decisions with me. Together.”

“You should know better,” Regina shot back. “You saw that your father was a figurehead at best.”

“I make the rules. I am the law,” she insisted, shaking her head.

“If you aren’t the sole source of power, especially when you just led a coup d’etat? You’ll look like easy pickings for anyone with royal aspirations.” Regina’s voice was low, but all the more devastating for it.

“And you couldn’t bring any of this to my attention before I led that coup d’etat?” Emma felt her hurt switch into anger.

“None of this changes the fact that dethroning your mother the tyrant was the right thing to do!”

“No, that’s not it,” Emma sneered. “You’re scared.”

“Of this prison? Yes, do keep up dear.” Regina’s sarcasm was cutting now.

“No, of loving me!” she shouted. “Of building a life with me, here where you’re not the absolute power like you are on that damn boat!”

“Oh fuck off,” Regina growled.

“No, _you_ fuck off. I wouldn’t think that you would be the one to run when things get hard. You stand up to it.”

“I am standing up to it! I’m getting up and going on even though it’s killing me because _this kingdom needs you_.” Regina’s jaw was trembling and a lone tear had escaped her eye.

The realization that Regina was hurting just as much as she was made Emma’s own ache come rushing back, and she felt a sob tear its way out of her chest. Regina took a hesitant step closer, and so did she, and another, and before she knew it they were holding each other and weeping.

“There has to be another way,” Emma gasped out.

“I don’t know. Just- hold me.”

Emma did, and Regina clutched at her too, and they stood there and cried until Emma’s legs started to feel wobbly.

Just when she had drawn breath to suggest they sit down, Regina murmured, “Take me to bed. Make me forget. Let’s pretend, just for tonight.”

Suddenly there was nothing that Emma wanted more in the entire world. Their hands immediately began pulling at each other’s clothes as they crossed the short distance to the bed. It was sharp, the need to reconnect, the need for the intimacy of skin. Emma was a little startled when Regina shoved her down onto the bed, but loved the way she climbed on top and hissed, “Mine.”

Her answering “Yours” was almost a sob.

Regina’s kisses were demanding, her tongue conquering Emma’s mouth when her teeth weren’t on her jaw-neck-collarbones. Her hands demanded just as much, stroking possessively and grabbing just a little too hard and sometimes giving Emma’s skin the sharp edge of fingernails. She suspected she’d have bruises tomorrow. Bruises to remember-

She didn’t let herself finish that thought. That was tomorrow’s pain, and it was bitter. Tonight’s pain was sweet.

Emma’s hands were busy, too, fingers threading through Regina’s hair and palms trying to touch every bit of her at once. When she cupped Regina’s ass and pulled them tight together, she felt a brush of wetness against her thigh that she desperately needed to taste. In the next breath, her fingers that gripped Regina’s hair were pulling as her hips pushed up to roll them over. Emma hadn’t quite meant to pull her hair, but Regina’s pleased moan set her senses on fire all over again. Their mouths found each other once more when Emma was on top.

Their kisses were hot and hungry, and Emma could have stayed like this forever except for the insistent sensation of slick heat against her skin. She kept her mouth on Regina as she began to slide downward, unwilling to lose precious contact with her body even for a moment. She nipped and sucked along Regina’s jawline, down her neck, and across her collarbone. Then she pressed hot, open kisses to the soft plane of her chest.  A little desirous sound bubbled up in Emma’s chest when she turned her attention to Regina’s breasts. She cupped them in each hand as she sucked one nipple into her mouth and rolled the other between her fingertips.

Regina’s hands were gripping her hair now, not quite gently. “Yes, my love, like that. So good,” she murmured.

It _was_ so good. Regina’s skin was soft and she fit perfectly in Emma’s hands, and it was sweet-sweet-sweet. But her taut little nipples in Emma’s mouth and her moans of encouragement were searingly hot. Emma worshiped her breasts for long minutes, sucking and then biting as her fingers began pinching, feeling Regina start to pull her hair for real now.

Then Regina’s hand in her hair started to pull down her body, and Emma was only too happy to take the implicit command, kissing and nipping and sucking down over the slight curve of Regina’s belly to settle between her thighs.

Regina’s pussy was glistening and open and she was mesmerized for a moment just looking.

“Don’t tease me,” Regina growled.

“Not teasing. Admiring,” Emma countered lightly.

“Admire me with your mouth,” Regina sassed.

Emma smiled up at her, and then she did as she was told, lowering her head to make a long, slow swipe with her tongue that had them both moaning. A fierce hunger surged up in her and she couldn’t start slow. She went all in, feeling Regina’s wetness smearing her lips-chin-nose as her tongue stroked every bit of her, curling on her clit and fluttering at her entrance.

Emma’s world contracted to this, to Regina’s moans and “Yes”-es, to the rolling of her hips to meet her mouth, to the heat and slickness of her, to her precious taste. Or, maybe, those things were so important that they expanded to fill the entire world. All that mattered was touching Regina, loving Regina, giving Regina pleasure, worshiping Regina, making Regina come.

She was fluttering her tongue on her clit and sucking now, and Regina’s hips were all but fucking her face.

Regina’s grip in Emma’s hair kept her mouth where they both wanted it as she hissed, “Fuck- yes- Emma- more- just like that- yes-”

Emma wrapped both arms around Regina’s thighs to keep her tight to her mouth and sucked hard. She stayed with Regina as she felt her body tense and curl in on itself. She stayed with Regina as her strong thighs flexed and her hips twitched hard. She stayed with Regina as the hands in her hair threatened to pull it out.

Then Regina was coming, her body becoming an arc of taut muscle, and all Emma could think was how much she loved her.


	31. Chapter 31

Regina felt pleasantly floppy as she urged Emma up to press on top of her again. God, she loved this—the sex, but also the intimacy and adoration, the way Emma loved her so completely. She was going to miss-

She shoved that thought down. This wasn’t the time for that. This was the time to love Emma hard and hold her tight and just be a body and a heart and not an anxious mind.     

So she ran her hands over Emma’s body, appreciating every plane and curve of her. The princess had always been slender, but her months working on Regina’s ship had left her almost muscular, and Regina reveled in the contrast between that firmness and the softness of her skin. Her fingertips traced Emma’s spine and her palms skimmed her sides and her nails scraped just enough to keep them both grounded, and all the while they were kissing, kissing, kissing like they might never-

Regina needed to focus. Here. Now. Emma. She reached down to squeeze the princess’s ass.

“Mm, hi,” Emma murmured.

“Hi,” she said back. Then she pulled upward, coaxing Emma to move up her body.

“Oh yeah?” Emma murmured playfully.

“Oh yeah,” she echoed again.

As soon as Emma lifted up to move, Regina slid down. She was facing Emma’s breasts in the next moment and cupping them in her hands with her mouth wrapped around a nipple in the moment after. She lavished adoration, sucking and kissing while her fingers stroked and pinched, back and forth, one to the other, loving the little “Nnh!”s Emma made.

Soon Emma’s hips began rocking against nothing, and when her cunt brushed wetly against Regina’s belly she groaned around the nipple in her mouth and grabbed her hips again. In no time, Emma was astride her face, then settling onto her mouth she pulled down.

“God,” Emma moaned as she made contact. “I love your mouth.”

Her dirty chuckle was muffled by Emma’s slick flesh, and it was glorious. She ran an eager tongue over her, the curves and planes of her, swirling around her clit and dipping inside, trying to memorize-

Pushing that thought firmly down, Regina dug her fingers into Emma’s ass, urging her to rock against her mouth.

“Oh fuck,” Emma gasped. “So hot, wanting me to ride your face.”

“Mmhmm,” Regina hummed, letting it vibrate Emma’s clit between her lips. Then she started fluttering her tongue, quick and focused and demanding pleasure from Emma’s body.

Soon Emma was gasping, “Fuck- god- yes- Regina- love you- yours-” as her hips worked to meet her touch. Regina lost herself in it. There was only Emma’s taste and hotness and slickness, only her expletives and adoration and encouragements, only the increasingly erratic jerking of her hips.

Then Emma was coming, bucking hard before slumping forward until Regina magicked her onto the bed to let herself breathe.

Regina moved close and curled against her in the next moment, feeling sleepy and gloriously spent. Emma slid an arm around her and held her tight.

**

When Regina awakened the next morning and found the bedclothes cold beside her, the ache that she’d tried to drown in pleasure last night hit her again full-force. It had been cowardly to ask Emma to make love to her, maybe, but she felt sure she hadn’t been the only one who had needed to delay this moment, to wait to face the thing after a full night’s sleep and in the light of day.

Except that now she was facing it alone. The temperature of the bed told her Emma had been gone for a long time. And why shouldn't she be? There was a tremendous amount of work to do getting things settled here, in her new life, without Regina- 

She felt tears prick her eyes and hated herself for being so maudlin. Where was the daring pirate captain who sailed recklessly into the teeth of danger? Where even was the determined woman who’d grit her teeth and gone through with it last night? She felt pathetic.

She shook herself. Time to get up. She had taken a deep breath and rolled over to swing her legs off the bed when she heard a “Hey.”

It was Emma, dressed in a riding coat and jodhpurs that were pastel and covered in frills but almost certainly more practical than anything else in her closet. Suddenly aware of her own nudity, Regina started to clutch the bedclothes to herself before remembering that she could magic her clothes on. If she was this easily rattled, today was going to be very hard indeed.

“Good morning,” she managed finally as she rose from the bed. It was a bit stiff, but Emma smiled at her brightly.

“Been awake long?” Emma asked solicitously.

Long enough, she thought, but said, “Not very” instead.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

Regina shrugged noncommittally. “You have a lot to do.”

“Yeah,” Emma said with a dramatic sigh. “Man, there are a lot of laws. But I think I have a solution.”

“A solution?”

Emma held out a piece of parchment that Regina hadn’t noticed she was carrying until now.

Taking it, Regina read: _I vow support to Her Majesty’s navy in its mission to defend the kingdom against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In making this common cause, I pledge that my ship, my crew, and myself will treat friend and enemy in accordance with the Crown. Toward this goal, we will receive full salary and supplies as well as ___ percent of takings in the course of our work. I swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen for the duration of this arrangement._ There was a place for her to sign and a place for a seal to be stamped.

She met Emma’s eyes, baffled.

“It’s a charter for service in as a privateer in cooperation with my navy. I had Jiminy and Doc and some of the advisers who I always liked help me look things up. It would all be legal.” She looked down, as if suddenly shy. “You can be here as often as you want and come and go freely.”

All Regina could do was stare, stunned, at this wonderful woman.

Emma was babbling nervously now. “You don’t have to be my consort. You don’t even have to stay here all the time. Just come back sometimes?” She looked up at her again and gave a weak little smile. “And if Henry agrees to be my heir it’ll really be nobody’s business if I spend time with a good-looking sea captain.”

“I love you,” Regina breathed, because what else was there to say?

“Is that a yes?”

A sudden thought struck Regina and she looked down at the sheet again, brow furrowed. “Why is the percentage blank?”

“I thought you might want to negotiate.”

A joyous chuckle bubbled up from deep in Regina’s chest and she flung herself into Emma’s arms, kissing her soundly.


	32. Chapter 32

By the time the Jolly Roger sailed into port with the rest of the crew a few days later, Emma was starting to feel like she was making progress toward cleaning up the mess her mother had made of the kingdom. She had rescinded the anti-magic law and ordered all copies of the registry destroyed. She had issued a proclamation lowering taxes to a more reasonable level. And then she’d begun the long, long task of going through the list of people her mother had declared criminal to see whether they were actually dangerous to anything but Snow’s paranoia and vindictiveness.

Through it all, Regina—price on her head cancelled after nearly three decades—was by her side, helping her think through the political implications of various choices and making sense of the budget and it was perfectly, exactly what Emma had wanted. If only it could last.

“Emma!”

Smiling, she turned from the window to see Henry running into the private audience chamber. “Hey, kid!”

“You did it!” He ran forward and threw his arms around her.

That startled her enough that it took a second to hug him back. “We sure did!”

“What now?” he asked as he pulled back and looked up at her.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out the past few days. There’s a lot of work to do to get everything fixed up around here.”

“Are you going to be queen?” It was like him to cut to the heart of the matter.

Glancing up at Regina and Neal, who had followed him in, she said, “It seems like it.” She turned back to Henry. “And have you decided if you want to be a prince?”

“Yes,” he said immediately.

“Yes, you’ve decided, or yes, you want to be a prince?”

“Yes, I want to be a prince. I like learning how things work and then making them work right.”

Emma felt a surge of affection for him so strong it left her a little overwhelmed.

“Well, Prince Henry, you are well come, because there’s a lot of that to do around here,” Regina said warmly as she slid a supportive arm around Emma’s waist and reached out to grip the boy’s shoulder affectionately.

Henry beamed at her, and it was perfect, but that sharp edge of ache was still there, right under the surface, that it wouldn’t be like this forever.

**

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Regina said.

“Yes, I do,” Emma insisted. “I need to understand. I-” she sighed. “I don’t want to repeat their mistakes.”

“You are nothing like them,” Regina insisted.

“They’re my parents. How could I not be?”

“I understand. I do.” In response to Emma’s skeptical eyebrow, she reminded her, “I know better than anyone what it’s like to have a tyrant for a mother and a father who’s kind but too weak to stand up to her.”

“And what did you spend the better part of a decade doing, again? Oh right, terrorizing a kingdom.” Emma pointed out, half-serious.

“And a heart-to-heart with my mother would have prevented that?” Regina shot back. Then she relented, pulling Emma into a hug. “Good luck.”

Emma held her tight for a long moment, feeling like she was going to need it. Then she pulled away and strode through the door.

**

She nodded to the guards, who opened the doors to the spare diplomatic suite in which her parents had been imprisoned. She didn’t have the heart to throw them in the dungeon, even after everything.

“You can’t keep us in here forever,” her mother said immediately upon spotting her.

“Hi, mom, good to see you, glad you’re well, yes I’m well too,” Emma deadpanned, putting her hands on her hips as she stood across from where her mother sat.

“Emma, this is serious. What do you think you’re doing?”

“What am I doing?” Emma said more than asked. “I’ve spent the past several days beginning what I assume will be years of cleaning up your mess.”

Snow was rocked back a bit. “Mess? What mess?”

“Well, let’s see,” Emma said, then started ticking off the issues on her fingers. “The kingdom is impoverished because you have taxed the people to death, sometimes literally. No one trusts the government, because you’re cruel and capricious. And we’re broke, because all of that ran the economy into the ground.”

“How dare you speak to me that way! I’m the queen!”

“Not anymore.”

“What- you- you can’t-” Snow sputtered.

“Yeah, I can.”

“I never thought that you were the type to seek power.”

Emma snorted. “I’m not. But what you were doing was wrong.”

“It was all perfectly legal,” Snow insisted.

That made Emma scoff. “Yeah, because you made the laws.”

Snow lifted her chin. “Well yes, that is my prerogative as queen.”

“But _why_? Why did you-” Emma broke off, at a loss for words. “People have been suffering. For decades.”

At least Snow was still capable of enough shame to shift uncomfortably at that, but she still answered, “Sometimes that’s the price.”

“Sometimes the price is too high,” Emma shot back, pacing now in her frustration. “A good queen would know that.”

“I don’t have to justify my decisions to you,” Snow snapped back.  

“No,” Emma conceded. “You don’t. I thought that it would help to talk to you, to understand-” She sighed. “But clearly I was wrong.” She paused and took a deep breath, then walked back and sat down in the chair across from her mother. “So, I have my people searching the castle, but if you could tell me where the hiding places are for your secret documents and treasure, it would make this a lot easier.”

“So you _are_ going to keep us in here forever,” her father said from where he’d been sitting quietly in the corner.

“I don’t want to. But I can’t be sure mom wouldn’t stir up the few nobles loyal to her, and I know you won’t leave without her.”

Snow looked at her sharply. “We’re just supposed to stay in here?”

“You have food and clothing and shelter, which is more than some of the people in this kingdom have, thanks to you. You have a courtyard and a library. And you can’t hurt anyone, which is all I care about right now.” Emma stood up. This had been a waste of time.

“But what am I supposed to do?” Snow sounded a little hysterical now.

“What was it you always told me?” Emma pretended to consider. “Oh yeah. Work on your needlepoint.”


	33. Chapter 33

It took a few days for it to start amid all the chaos of regime change, and a few days after that for it to start to bother her. It was subtle, because the nobles and advisers were fully diplomatic, but Regina had more than enough experience to notice that their smiles froze and their eyes glazed over when she started to talk in meetings, even though they kept on nodding politely. Emma never stopped asking her opinion or caring what she had to stay or adoring her completely, but she gradually found herself spending more and more time outside with her tree, breathing deeply because that was the only place she felt like she could.

“It’s getting to be that time, huh?” Marian always knew.

“I think so,” Regina was forced to admit. If she could figure out how to have the conversation with Emma. She ached just thinking about it.

“I’ll tell the crew we have marching orders and start the preparations,” Marian said, immediately slipping into first officer mode.

“It’s not an order,” Regina said, quiet and sad.

“What?”

“I have to give people a chance to stay. It’s different now, with everyone cleared of charges and Emma fixing things so that this kingdom will be a good place to live again. I can’t just demand that people come with me.” She huffed a bitter chuckle. “I can’t assume anyone is going to _want_ to come with me when they have other options.”

“Regina, I’m not going to abandon you.”

Regina gave her a small smile. “I didn’t think so, though it’s nice to hear you say it. But,” and her smile faded, “people have to have the choice. So, tell them they can go, no questions asked. Decisions tomorrow.”

Marian’s jaw tightened, but she answered, “Yes, Captain.”

Once Marian had turned to go, Regina took a deep breath and forced herself to go back in as well. Emma was going to have a meeting with the economic adviser soon and she needed to be there, to murmur in her ear if nothing else. As she turned the corner toward the council chamber, she almost ran into Neal.

“Hey, Regina, sorry,” he said as he stumbled back to avoid her. “But I was actually just looking for you.”

Regina winced. “Damn, am I late for the advisers?”

“Oh, oh no, you’re fine,” he hesitated to assure her. “Emma didn’t send me. I was looking for you for myself.”

“Oh- Okay, what is it?”

“I know your plan was to leave before much longer,” he started, then broke off, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

Regina’s heart sank, but she prompted, “And?”

“And-” he sighed. “I just found Henry, and I don’t want to leave him.” Regina’s heart clenched. “But I’m torn. You have been my family for most of my life—you and the crew. I don’t want to leave you either.”

A surge of affection for him rose up into her throat, making her voice come out rough. “What does your gut say?”

He swallowed hard. “I think I want to stay here with my son.”

Feeling tears pricking her eyes, Regina said, “Then I think you should stay here with your son.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said with more certainty than she felt. She pulled him into a strong hug. “Just promise me one thing,” she said when she finally pulled back.

“What’s that?”

“Love him with everything you are.”

Neal smiled. “I will.”

**

If Neal was leaving despite all their years together, there was no hope of anyone with less loyalty staying. She supposed that it would make Emma happy when she couldn’t leave because she had no crew. She liked making Emma happy. Maybe it was for the best that no one was going to go with her. The thoughts chased themselves around and around her head.

Emma looked up with a smile as Regina entered her private study. “Hi beautiful, I thought I might have to send somebody to find you.”

Regina managed a tight smile. “Sorry I’m late. Should we go to the council chamber?”

But Emma’s eyes were searching her face. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Regina said, too quickly.

“It’s not nothing.” Emma knew her too well by now for that.

“No, it’s not,” she conceded. “But we have a meeting.”

“Yeah, no.” Emma got up and crossed the room to her. “I’m the queen and they can wait. Talk to me.”

“Emma, I-” she broke off, not knowing how to bring it up.

Realization dawned on Emma’s face. “It’s time, isn’t it? For you to go.”

“I-” She couldn’t meet her eyes.

“I thought it might be coming. You’ve been getting fidgety for days.” How was Emma the one able to calmly talk about this? And why did Regina still feel so defensive?

“Your advisers treat me like-”

 “Yeah. I know. I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I’ve tried dropping hints, but I don’t have a feel for them to put my foot down.”

“I know. It’s alright. I just have to-” She trailed off.

Emma cupped her cheek and coaxed her to meet her eyes. “I know. It’s alright.” She said back, smiling gently. “When?”

“Not for a few days. We have to supply.”

“It’s on the house, remember,” Emma said with a little playful grin.

Regina felt a real smile touch her lips for the first time. “I do.”

Emma hummed and then kissed her gently.

**

Regina had gone into the meeting with the advisers fortified by Emma’s calm acceptance of her impending departure and unshaken adoration. Her kisses didn’t hurt either, and it all carried her through the evening. But this morning, standing on the dock before her ship, she felt hollow again. Any minute now, the sailors who wanted to leave would be coming down the gangplank and she would have to smile and wish them well as they abandoned her.

“It’s time,” Marian said. Was that a hint of a smile? How could she possibly be pleased by this? It wasn’t like her to be sardonic when Regina was hurting.

Regina shook it off and turned to look at the ship. She would not weep. She would not weep. She would not weep. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

No one came. She turned to Marian, who was smiling full out now. “Are we early?”

“No, we’re exactly on time.”

“But- what- I-” Regina sputtered.

“Everyone is coming with us,” Marian explained, her voice gentle.

“Everyone?”

“Except Neal, who is only staying here because of his son.”

Regina just stared at her, feeling dazed, unable to understand what it meant.

“They choose you, Regina. We’re a family.”

She did weep, then, happy tears spilling over her smiling cheeks, and she felt absolutely no shame about it.


	34. Chapter 34

Emma was shocked by how easy it was to let momentum carry her through and pretend that everything was fine when underneath, it felt like her entire world was crumbling. Being queen was so damn hard when you actually cared about your people. There were so many considerations to balance. She was barely managing as it was, and now Regina was going to leave and would have to do this by herself.

It had been selfish, she understood now, to assume Regina would just follow her into this life. But she _had_ assumed it, and she might not have agreed to depose her mother if she’d known she would have to go it alone on ruling afterward.

Except that she would have, because she couldn’t leave people to suffer.

Except that now she was the one suffering. And she would have to keep being the one suffering and never tell anyone, because the one person she could tell was Regina, and she couldn’t put her in that position, and anyway tomorrow she would be gone. That thought ached most of all and sent her back to willing herself to keep it together, glad that she was alone on her bedroom balcony with no one to see her shaking.

“Hello, my love.”

Emma turned to see her glowing golden in the setting sun, so beautiful it pierced her. “Hiiii,” she breathed.

“Do you have any plans tonight?” _For our last night together_ went unspoken, but Emma understood.

“No- I mean- just you.”

Regina smiled. “I’m glad we can spend the night in.”

How was Regina so calm about this? Wasn’t this tearing her apart the way it was Emma? “Me too,” she managed. “Should we- um-” She gestured pathetically toward the bed.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Regina said.

Emma knew what she meant. “But it doesn’t feel that urgent, yeah.”

“Just hold me?” Regina asked, and Emma found her smile again because that was perfect.

They slid into each other’s arms, pressing against each other belly and breast and cheek.

“I always liked this view,” Regina murmured where her head was tucked against Emma’s shoulder.

Emma shifted a bit so that she could see it too. “Yeah? Tell me.”

“I could see so far. I could see the harbor. It felt like freedom.”

Emma ached all over again at how trapped Regina had felt for years and years in this castle. Of course she couldn’t bear to stay here very long and was leaving the first chance she got.

“Emma?”

She realized she’d gotten lost in her thoughts for too long. “And you found your freedom in the harbor,” she said, her voice breaking a bit.

Regina pulled back to look at her. “I guess I did.” Her eyes searched her face for a long moment. “Emma, you’re trembling.”

She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Regina cupped her face in both hands now, stroking a thumb across her cheek.

“Regina, I-” _I wish you didn’t have to go, but I understand that you do_ was simply beyond her right now.

“I know,” Regina said. “And I-”

Emma understood. She didn’t want to go but felt like she couldn’t stay here. It was suddenly clear to her now, in this hour of twilight when thresholds were crossed. They had both been keeping up appearances, even with each other, and been too hurt themselves to notice what the other couldn’t say. She raised her own hands to Regina’s face now, resting their foreheads together, breathing her in.

Then she kissed her, slow and deep and sweet. Their happy sighs echoed each other, and one kiss turned into two, three, five. Their hands started to wander, gentle, easy, aimless caresses, just reconnecting and appreciating one another. Soon they were moving toward the bed in unspoken agreement, perfectly in tune once again.

When they reached it, Regina lay down first, then looked up at her and held out a hand. Emma smiled and took it and let herself be guided down to lay beside Regina, who pressed on top of her in the next moment. Their kisses and touches went on, still unhurried and adoring.

Emma let herself float on the sensation of it, this slow appreciation of each other. She didn’t know how long they stayed that way, because time seemed to have no meaning, but it was quite a bit darker by the time Regina kissed down to her chin, jaw, neck and she opened her eyes again.

Slowly, so, so slowly, their hands moved to undressing each other. Regina pressed kisses to every bit of Emma’s skin that was revealed, and when she was bare she pressed her cheek against her heart for a long, long moment, and Emma needed- she needed-

She rolled them over and Regina made a little surprised sound but went willingly enough. Then she was kissing Regina everywhere, neck and collarbone and the soft expanse of her chest. She lingered listening to the steady thudding of Regina’s heart, too. It was just a little bit quickened with desire, and that made her own desire intensify. Cupping Regina’s breasts in each hand, she looked up to meet her eyes.

Regina smiled and cupped her cheek and nodded to the unspoken question.

They both gave little happy sighs when Emma’s lips closed around a nipple. She just stayed that way for a moment, not sucking or biting but just feeling her, soft and firm and in her mouth and perfect.

“Emma,” Regina said, and when Emma looked up her raised eyebrow of disapproval was warring with the affectionate smile that kept threatening to make its way onto her face. Emma smiled around the nipple in her mouth and then began to suck as her fingers found the other, rolling it gently.

“Good girl,” Regina hummed.

“Yours,” Emma insisted.

“Mine,” Regina agreed. “And I’m yours.”

“Mine,” she breathed back.

She stayed there for endless minutes, sucking a nipple and then kissing it gently, rolling and then pinching sharp-sweet, nuzzling and stroking her face against one breast and the other. Regina’s hums turned into sighs turned into little “Mmh”s of pleasure. Emma gave her more and more of the touches she liked best, but slowly, methodically, adoringly.

When Regina said “Emma” again it was on the edge between breathy and a moan.

She looked up and Regina was biting her lip, and suddenly the adoration of the moment flared into desire.

“Oh fuck,” she breathed.

“Please do,” Regina teased.

Emma chuckled happily as she kissed her way down Regina’s body, making sure to lavish attention on the underside of her breasts, on her ribcage, on her belly and sides and hips and thighs, mapping the planes and curves of her with adoring lips.

And when she settled between her legs at last she pressed sweet kisses to her pussy first, just appreciating her and enjoying the intimacy for a moment. But the tension in Regina’s thigh beside her head told Emma that her patience was running short, and she didn’t make her wait, soon taking long, soft, easy strokes from opening to clit and back, loving the slickness and taste and hotness of her almost as much as the moans it pulled out of her throat.

She got lost in worshiping her, slow strokes becoming quicker as her breath did, flat strokes starting to flutter as the pulse in her thigh did, soft strokes getting harder as the grip in her hair did.

When Regina pulled her head away using that grip, she groaned at losing contact.

“Come up here.” Emma knew her face must have looked rebellious, because Regina chuckled. Then she stroked her thumb on Emma’s cheek and coaxed, “I want to touch you too. Together.” That was way too hot to resist, and in the next moment, Emma was kissing her way back up her body to settle on top of her again.

Regina’s hand found its way between her thighs and Emma gasped when she realized how wet she was, and again when she began rubbing steady circles. Her hand slid home to do the same, and Regina’s “Nnh” sent heat along her veins.

Regina pulled her into a kiss as her fingers started moving faster, and Emma’s hips bucked in response, pushing her thigh against the back of her hand. That had Regina moaning against Emma’s mouth and Emma stroking faster and Regina’s hips rising to meet her.

They slipped into an exquisite rhythm, hips working to meet stroking fingers, skin pressed to skin, breathing each other’s breath between soul-deep kisses. Everything was perfectly, deliriously Regina—the softness and firmness of her, the warmth and the hotness of her, the pleasure from her and desire for her, being so, so close to her. Soon it felt like they were one being, moving in time as they gave each other exactly as much more as was almost too much. There was nothing but this tiny world of intimacy. Their pleasure was so great it expanded to fill infinite space. And she was- and she- she-

Regina was shuddering underneath her, and Emma was swallowing Regina’s moan of her name as she followed her into orgasm.


	35. Chapter 35

The sunrise was just turning from pink to gold when the light crept in at the window across from the balcony and touched Emma’s face, making her glow like some kind of ethereal being. Regina paused in putting her boots on to smile at how beautiful she was. Then she sighed, because if the sun was that high she really had to get moving if she was going to make the tide.

She didn’t want to wake her, but once she’d finished with the boots she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.  “Emma.”

“Mmh,” Emma groaned, turning away from the light on her face.

“Emma, my love, it’s time.” She walked over to touch her shoulder.

“So early,” Emma groaned.

“The sea waits for no one,” Regina said with a little chuckle, sitting down on the bed beside her.

Emma hummed a concession to that and opened her eyes. “G’morning,” she said, her voice raspy with sleep.

“Good morning,” Regina said. Then she blurted, “I love you. You know that, right?”

Emma hummed and curled around her hip where it was on the bed. “Yes. And I love you. We’re gonna be okay.”

“Yeah?” Regina couldn’t help asking for more reassurance.

“Yeah. Love you forever.” She was sleepy and boundaryless and Regina felt warmth spread through her chest, thawing the ice that had been there since she had awakened.

“I’ll see you when you get home,” Emma added.

Home. The word hit her with a jolt. Emma was her home. She could go and then come home. The feeling was so overwhelming that all she could do was hum agreement.

“Come home soon, yeah?”

“Soon as I can,” she answered. “Love you.” She leaned down to kiss Emma’s forehead, and the tip of her nose, and then her mouth, slow and sweet. Then she took a deep breath and stood.

**

The first day was busy. There was a lot to do in the morning to get out of the harbor, past the coastal area, into the shipping lane. Then she called a quick senior staff meeting to make decisions with only a little pang at Neal’s absence. After that, she had to navigate. It felt good to be out on the ocean again—the sky open and the wind fresh and the motion of the waves like freedom. It was good to be home, and it gave her only a little twinge to think it.

In the afternoon, she prowled the decks; she always felt like she needed to keep a closer eye on the crew after an extended shore leave in case they had trouble finding the rhythm of the ship again. There was plenty to carry her through the whole day. It tired her out so much that she could barely strip out of her clothes before she was passed out asleep.

**

The next few days were much the same. They spotted a ship once or twice, but each time it was flying Snow’s- now Emma’s- flag, so they just kept sailing. The excitement of sighting sail reinforced the feeling that the whole wide world was possible, and the whole crew felt it—laughing and joking and singing the day away.

But soon Regina’s body readjusted to the work and she wasn’t falling into a dead sleep anymore. In the night, in her cabin, the world didn’t seem so bright and open. She was keenly aware of Emma’s absence. It seemed silly. This had been her cabin alone for close to thirty years. It shouldn’t feel so empty now. Her bed shouldn’t feel so cold. It certainly shouldn’t feel so big given how crowded it had been with Emma here. But it did, and she started to have to push those thoughts from her mind before she could fall asleep each night.

**

Then the days started to be hard. There were moments when the wind in her face felt sharp rather than clean, and moments where the bigness of the sky felt empty rather than freeing. It never lasted long, but it left her feeling unsettled, a feeling, hovering mostly at the edges of her consciousness, that something was just _wrong_.

One morning the crew were in high spirits and someone high in the rigging launched into a sea shanty, soon joined by the rest.

 _Your one true love's a sailing ship_  
That anchors at our pier.  
We lift her sails, we man her decks,  
We scrub the portholes clear;  
And yes, our lighthouse shines for her,  
And yes, our shores are warm;  
We steer her into harbor-  
Any port in a storm.  
The sailors stand upon the docks,  
The sailors stand in line,  
As thirsty as a dwarf for gold  
Or centaurs for cheap wine.  
For all the sailors love her,  
And flock to where she's moored,  
Each man hoping that he might  
Go down, all hands on board.

It was silly, and a little off-color, but she had joined right in singing with them many a time before. She’d gone drinking with them in places where songs like this were routine. Sometimes she’d even engaged in their silly games of one-upmanship for examples of derring-do—and once or twice, when very drunk, sexual exploits. They were her rough-around-the-edges family, and this was her home, and why didn’t it feel the same? Why was it making her think uncomfortably of Emma?

She shook it off, but that night was particularly restless. The next day her eyes, and thoughts, started drifting to the spot on the deck where Neal had taught Emma to tie line, and Emma had taught Henry. Somehow, she half expected to see them there, but of course they never were, and it was just a little disorienting. Each time, she’d close her eyes and sigh and then open them again and strain looking at the horizon for sail. She just needed to take a ship, get back into the rhythm of piracy, remember who she was. It would be fine.

**

After several nights running of tossing and turning into the wee hours, Regina realized she had to start swimming before bed. The immediacy of her frail human body in the mighty ocean kept her mind focused, and the exertion of it left her wrung out and ready to sleep. She saw Marian watching her with a concerned look more than once, but her first officer didn’t say anything. She was glad not to have to turn into words the vague feeling that was creeping around her insides. She was glad not to have to justify why she was feeling this bad and doing this anyway. No, there wouldn’t be any talking about it. She would just work, and not think, and swim, and not think, and be exhausted, and not think.


	36. Chapter 36

Emma told herself it wasn’t so different with Regina gone. The former queen had started avoiding meetings with the advisers in her last few days anyway, so Emma was already used to wanting to turn to her for advice and not being able to. But she’d always been able to ask her what she thought later, and now she couldn’t. She had Neal here, and he was world-wise in a way Emma wasn’t and willing to give advice, but it wasn’t the same as having the experience of being queen. It made a little bit of panic well up in her throat to know she was responsible for all these people completely on her own.

That made her miss Regina even more, because she was the one Emma wanted to turn to for comfort, and that was all twisted back on itself now because Regina couldn’t have comforted her about herself anyway.

She took a deep breath, willed herself to focus, and then asked for the perspective of every adviser in the meeting so that she could weigh them against each other. She could do this.

After the last one spoke, she said, in the queen voice she was finally getting good at, “Thank you, dismissed.” She turned her eyes to the reports in front of her to reinforce the command.

She looked up when she heard the door close, expecting to be able to relax now that she was alone, and saw Neal leaning against the far side of the large council table.

“Did you need something?” she asked, her voice still sharp with command.

“Come on, Emma, it’s just me.”

She sighed. “Sorry. What can I do for you?”

“Nothing. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you.”

“Actually, if you could have them pull last year’s export report, that would be helpful. It seems like a better budget proxy than my mother’s awful taxes.”

“Yeah, I can, but I didn’t mean what can I do for the queen. I meant what can I do for _you_. How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” she said, far too quickly.

“Em,” he said, his voice gentle. “I know we’re not as close as you are with-”

“Don’t-” Emma cut him off. Hearing her name would take her apart right now.

“Okay,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I know we’re not that close, but I also know you could use a friend.”

The simple support of it combined with the fact that he knew she was asking him not to mention Regina made Emma feel like the air had been taken out of her lungs. She did desperately need a friend, somebody who saw her as Emma and not the queen, so she could take this giant weight off her shoulders and just be a person rather than the savior of the kingdom, even for a little while. The person she really needed wasn’t here, but Neal could definitely help. She let the tension drain out of her body and tipped her head onto the back of her chair. “This is really hard.”

“What is?” he prompted gently.

She sighed gustily. “Everything.”

He chuckled a little bit at how emphatic she was. “That’s fair. If it helps, I think you’re doing a good job.”

Emma must have looked skeptical, because he added, “Hey, I’m more like the average person in the kingdom than anybody else around here, right? And I think you’re doing great with the money, and the laws, and all the things we need to be a good place to live.”

“Yeah?” She felt so lost that his approval felt like rain on a parched plant.  

“Yeah. And your bullshit detector is great with the advisers,” he added conspiratorially.

That made her chuckle for the first time in what felt like days. “Always was.”

**

The one thing about this new life that really felt good and right was Henry. She spent time with him every day, no matter what else was going on. He told her about his lessons and asked a thousand and one questions about his new life, and she enjoyed every moment of getting to know him, trying to figure out what it would mean to get to be his mother now, after all this time.

Today he had been learning about the kingdom’s system of government. “Did you know that the current order of succession is only about a hundred years old?”

“I did not. What was it before?”

“Before, only men could inherit the throne.”

She thought she shouldn’t grin at his scowl of disapproval, so she answered with a straight face. “That sounds like a silly rule.”

“I think so, too. But then, one king only had daughters and so he decided to change the law.” He paused for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought, and how was she so lucky to end up with this kind, intelligent, thoughtful little person as her son? “It’s weird that he only cared when he didn’t have a son, though. You would think he would just know it was wrong.”

She did smile at him now, with pride. “People are like that, I guess.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I mean, they didn’t even change it so that a married queen would still rule until Queen Snow.”

She shook off the chill that came at the mention of her mother and asked, “Oh yeah? What happened before that?”

“They couldn’t get married or their husband would become king instead of them.”

“Wow, really?” She would never have imagined it was possible for her father to rule over her mother. He was so kind, but so passive. That wasn’t to say he wouldn’t have done a better job, though-

Henry was going on. “Yeah. Talk about silly rules. But I don’t know what the old laws would have said if you married Regina.”

That stopped Emma cold. Marry- Regina? She hadn’t even considered laws or marriage or anything like that when she had asked Regina to stay. She just- wanted her to stay. And it was so much more complicated than she thought, and maybe Regina knew it was complicated and that was part of why she refused, but Emma didn’t know, because she didn’t know anything, and god, she missed her more than ever now.

“Anyway,” Henry went on, blithely oblivious to her turmoil, “it was a really interesting lesson today. And then I got to practice archery!”

Emma took a deep breath and pushed her thoughts of Regina aside. Now was the time to focus on her son.

“Oh yeah? You getting any good at it?”

**

Emma’s days were busy from sunup until far into the evening, with meetings and budgets and draft laws to review. It was overwhelming, but also good because the ache of missing Regina mostly didn’t have time to come to the surface with so much else going on. It was there, always, but most of the time it couldn’t do more than peek out for a minute or an hour before she had to be off doing something else with no time to wallow.

But when she dismissed everyone for the night, when the distractions stopped, the ache crept up to stick in her throat and threaten tears. Sometimes, they came, and afterwards as she lay on the bed wrung out she felt ashamed to be so fragile when she had such a luxurious life, especially compared to the struggles of the poor souls in her kingdom. Sometimes, the tears didn’t come, and she would spend the whole night tossing and turning or pacing the floor, worrying about whether Regina was alright, whether she would ever come back, whether she even wanted to come back, and why hadn’t Emma just gone with her and the hell with ruling the kingdom?

She tried not to count the days. She tried not to estimate how long before Regina might return. She tried not to stare too hard at the harbor hoping to sight sail.

She didn’t really succeed.


	37. Chapter 37

Finally, after more days that Regina cared to think about, the shout of “Sail!” from the rigging was followed shortly afterward with “Flagged King George!”

Regina felt a rush of adrenaline. “Let’s do it!” she called out, and the crew sprang into action, gunners rolling heavy cannon into position in the belly of the ship and the deck crew divided between taking precautions against fire and preparing the hooks for boarding.

The other ship spotted them a few moments later and put on sail, but it was both built for carrying capacity, not speed, and too heavily laden to outrun the sleek Jolly Roger. Slowly, they closed the distance, and the world seemed to contract to taking this ship.

“Warning shot in range!” Victor called from the hatch.

“Fire at will,” she commanded.

In a few more moments they did, and it was a beauty, almost kissing the side of the ship but not damaging it—yet.  Through the spyglass, she could see the scramble on board the other ship, the first officer running and conferring with the captain. She knew what the outcome would be, even if she couldn’t hear the shouted command. In the next moment, the white flag was being hoisted.

It wasn’t done yet, of course. Regina watched carefully as they drew alongside, scanning the ship for any signs that this was a deception. Her heart thudded a little hard as Merlin led the boarding party, waiting for the all-clear. This was the most dangerous part, after all.

But in the end, they plundered a good haul of gold and weapons. It was a job well done, and satisfaction flooded through her.

**

After a successful take, it was customary to celebrate. They were too far from port to find a tavern tonight, but there was liquor in ship’s stores and plenty of enthusiasm to go around. Regina watched from the steps that led to the wheel as her crew sang songs that ranged from silly to bawdy, clapping and stomping and dancing jigs, generally reveling in another day of stealing from bad people and living to tell the tale.

She felt affection at their excesses, but it was fuzzy, like maybe the liquor in her hand was clouding the sensation. The thrill of the chase had always been her favorite part of piracy, but the celebration after was a close second. Tonight, she mostly felt dull and listless.

Marian was in her element, however, serving as mistress of ceremonies. “And now, let’s have a cheer for the man who provided that truly beautiful shot today, Victor!”

A chorus of hoots and hollers greeted him as he entered the center of the circle of sailors and took a bow.

“Speech, speech,” bellowed a voice far enough back to not be visible in the lantern light, drawing a laugh.

“My dearest pirates,” he started, gamely.

“Privateers!” Tink shouted.

“Yes, privateers in the service of her majesty’s navy!” he corrected.

Regina felt the smile freeze on her face.

“And we have done her majesty’s work today!” he went on, full of bombast from the rum. “We have struck a blow for our adopted country against an evil foe!”

“Hear, hear,” Gepetto put in.

“But the true glory isn’t mine,” Victor said. He put his hand to his ear to call for a response, like the pantomime shows they would put on sometimes on quiet nights.

The crew, well trained, responded immediately. “Whose glory is it?”

“The true glory belongs to our fearless captain!”

The cheer was loud enough to reverberate in her chest, and it made her smile for real now as she raised her flask in a salute to them all.

Victor broke into a jig in the center of the circle of light, drawing everyone’s eyes back to him. Soon the crew was clapping and stomping to give him a beat to dance to. They were all enjoying themselves hugely, and Regina was grateful that no one had decided to ask her for a speech as well. She had no idea what she would say to them, not tonight. She took another long pull from her drink.

“Captain!” Victor said suddenly, “Come dance with me!” He was well and truly drunk.

“I’ll pass, but thank you,” she called back.

“Come on. Cut loose, have some fun!” he coaxed.

“No,” she said, a little more firmly now.

“I know, you’ve been kind of down,” he said, dancing over toward her. “You just need to loosen up!”

She was still shaking her head when he actually reached out and grabbed her to pull her to her feet, and she had a fireball in her free hand before she even thought.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” he said, backing away so fast he almost fell over.

The rest of the crew fell silent, staring at them.

Regina felt sick. “I’m sorry. I’m very tired. I’ll just go to my cabin. Carry on.”

**

Not sure if the rapping on the door was a welcome or unwelcome interruption to her brooding, Regina looked up and snarled, “Come in.”

It was Marian, of course. No one else would risk her cabin after what had happened on deck. Or maybe at all anymore. “It’s midnight, Mar. What do you want?”

“To talk some sense into you,” she answered calmly, shifting a chest so she could sit across from her.

“You couldn’t do that at a reasonable hour?” she shot back.

Marian raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Have you got anything better to do right now? Other than snapping at everybody and trying to drown your inner voice?”

Regina didn’t have an answer and just clenched her jaw.

“How long are you going to do this, Regina?” Marian asked, her voice gentle. “How long are you going to torture yourself?”

“I’m not torturing myself,” she snapped immediately, defensively.

Marian went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Go to her.”

“I can’t,” she insisted. “There’s no place for me there.” It hurt even to say it.

“Bullshit.”

“The place- is not one I can fit into,” she amended, conceding the point.

Marian kept pushing. “Can’t? Or won’t?”

“I can’t live like that,” she insisted miserably.

“You can’t live like this either, Regina. You’re like half a person.”


	38. Chapter 38

It was another day much like the rest—she held meetings and read reports and made decisions. It might have been boring, except that the sheer complexity of the facts she had to wrap her head around at any given moment kept her pretty alert. She was, slowly, gaining more comfort, learning to trust her intuition, figuring out which of the advisers were reliable. Things were going well, considering that she had been dropped into ruling an entire kingdom without much preparation at all.

And if there was a dull ache lurking at all times, that was just something she was learning to live with.

“So anyway, I was hoping I could learn to joust!” Henry finished, a bundle of excitement.

She immediately felt guilty that she had gotten distracted. “Wait, joust?” She chuckled and reached out to ruffle his hair. “I appreciate your bravery, but you’re not old enough.”

His face screwed up adorably in his frustration. “Okay, but how old do I have to be?”

“Tall enough to see over the horse’s head, at least!”

“That’s not an answer. Come on, I’m almost eleven!”

She blinked, startled. “You are?” Involuntarily, she started trying to do the math. Had it been that long? When had they rescued him? How long had they been here in the castle?

“Yes, my birthday is in a few weeks.” He paused, thankfully oblivious to her inner turmoil. “Do you think Regina will be back by then?”

That struck her like a punch to the gut. “I don’t know,” she answered weakly.

“I hope she is. And the crew, too. I hope we’re all together to celebrate.”

“So do I, Henry. So do I.”

**

The recognition of how long Regina had been gone was heavy, and it stuck with Emma the rest of the day. When dark storm clouds started to roll in late in the afternoon, it seemed only fitting. Now it was full night and there was a steady rain beating on her chamber windows with a low rumble of thunder in the distance. It was the perfect match for the sadness and frustration that she could no longer suppress.

A sudden crash of thunder directly overhead startled her, and as she looked up from reviewing the kingdom’s ledgers she spotted Regina standing in the doorway, looking at her intently. She wondered how long she’d been there. After a moment, she realized that the captain was soaked, dripping steadily onto the fine carpet, and how was she so beautiful anyway?

“It’s a long walk from the harbor in rain like this,” Regina said, studiously casual.

Emma chuckled, despite everything, because of course she was too stubborn to use one of the royal carriages even though she could have. She got up and walked over to greet her, but as she got close she noticed something. “Are you shivering?”

“It’s a summer storm. I’ll be fine.”

The whole conversation wasn’t quite right. There was a raw ache just under the surface of politeness they were trying so desperately to maintain. Emma wasn’t ready to push it any more than Regina, so she just pointed out, “That’s not what I asked.” Then she reached out and tugged at her waistcoat with the weak smile she could muster. “Let’s get you out of those clothes.”

Regina raised an eyebrow and a tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.  

“I’ll call the ladies to draw you a bath,” Emma finished. “We can’t have you getting sick.” This would be okay. She could take care of her.

“Spoilsport,” Regina grumbled, and that felt real.

“Even if I’ll join you?” They shouldn’t use sex to avoid talking, but she’d be damned if she was going to deny herself the comfort of closeness after all this time.

Regina looked at her contemplatively, like maybe she was thinking the same thing. Then she said, “I’d like that.”

It didn’t take very long to get the bath ready. There was always water kept hot for her, and the servants were highly efficient and didn’t bat an eyelash at Regina’s presence.

But when they had gone, Emma suddenly felt shy of undressing. Maybe it was because it had been too long. Maybe it was because of the way everything was off center about the two of them tonight. Either way, she found herself turning away as she started to unlace her bodice.

After a few moments, she realized that because she’d worn a big, formal dress today—it was important to impress diplomatic delegations, and as much as she hated it she had come to recognize the value of being strategic at times—she wasn’t going to be able to get her clothes off on her own. She was going to have to ask Regina to help her. And it was going to be awkward.

As she turned back to ask, she spotted Regina tugging at her own clothes, wet through and sticking to her skin, looking plaintively in her direction.

“Need some help?” they both asked at the same moment.

They both stopped for a moment, then broke into laughter.

When it subsided, she stepped closer to Regina—not least because with those pants stuck half way down her legs the captain was never going to be able to come to her—and reached out to cup her cheek. And even cold and wet it felt like coming home to touch her. They were leaning toward each other, sliding into each other’s arms, and this was _right_ for the first time all evening.

They stayed there for long moments, just being close, and Emma would have happily stayed there forever. But before long, the front of her dress started to get cold and damp and Regina started to shiver again.

“Let’s-” Emma said, trailing off and tipping her head at the bath, because talking still felt wrong.

“Yes,” Regina agreed. “But not-”

 _Talk_ , Emma realized. She nodded vigorously.

Working together, they efficiently stripped out of two sets of uncooperative clothes and slid into the water, Regina settling between Emma’s legs and leaning back against her. When Emma’s arms wrapped around her, they both sighed deeply.

They were here, together, in each other’s arms. The things that had kept them apart for so long were still out there, but with Regina home again Emma couldn’t bring herself to care.


	39. Chapter 39

Slowly, so slowly, Regina felt the tension leave her body. Between the heat of the bath and the exquisite comfort of being back with Emma, she almost _had_ to relax, although it certainly took its time in coming. But eventually, she let her head tip back fully onto Emma’s shoulder and nuzzled her cheek and jaw, snuggling her arms closer around her.

“Mm, hi,” Emma murmured, almost inaudible even in this silent room.

“Hello, my love,” Regina half-whispered back.

“Missed you. Glad you’re home.”

“Me too,” Regina agreed, realizing a split second later what she’d said. A split second after that, she decided that she’d figure out what it meant to have two homes some other time.

They settled into silence again, but this one was easy rather than as loaded as before. Emma was nuzzling her cheek and jaw and neck now, and she was playing with Emma’s fingers curled around her side. They just _were_ , and it was them, and it was right, and whatever else it was, it was home.

“Water’s starting to get cold,” Emma said eventually.

“Yes. It’s time,” Regina said. To get out and to talk, and she knew that Emma would follow her meaning without saying it.

They dried each other gently but efficiently with the soft towels that Regina had dearly missed on her ship. Regina smiled when Emma handed her a fluffy robe that matched her own.

It felt right to move to the two comfortable chairs bracketing the fire. But once seated, Regina felt the tension rise again, at a loss for how to begin.

“How did it go?” Emma asked, equally tentative.

“Successful,” Regina said. “We got a quite a bit of gold and weapons.”

“Good,” Emma said, too quickly. “That’s good.” She was nodding too hard, yet almost absently.

Silence fell for a long moment.

“Please don’t leave again,” Emma blurted suddenly.

“I-” She didn’t want to—she desperately didn’t want to—but none of the problems with being here had changed.

“Look, I’ll decree that you have authority and then they’ll have to respect you.”

She sounded almost desperate now, bargaining, and Regina was filled with tenderness for her, and yet- “I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

“I don’t care how it works.”

“But-”

Emma cut her off. “No, Regina, the hell with it. We will find a title to give you. Be the admiral of my navy. Be my adviser. And if the stuck-up nobles have a problem with it, I will abdicate and they can damn well do all of this work themselves. And you and I and Henry will go live a wonderful life on your ship.”

Regina huffed an incredulous laugh. “Just like that?”

“Just like that. This- being queen-” She paused. “It’s important. But I don’t want to do it without you anymore.”

Regina just stared at her for a moment, overwhelmed, her eyes starting to blur with tears.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I know you want your freedom. I’m- It’s not fair for me to-”

“No,” Regina hurried to say. “No, Emma, I’m happy.”

“You are? But your ship- and you didn’t want to be here- and-”

There was an edge of panic in her voice and Regina was moving across the space between them to sit in her lap before she even decided. She cupped her face and looked her in the eye. “I want to be with you. Whatever it takes.”

“You do?”

“Being out there, without you-” She paused to try to find the words. “It felt more wrong than being here. Because at least here I have you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. And we’ll figure the rest out.”

Emma’s eyes searched her face for a moment, and she watched her expression go from uncertain to hopeful to joyous. And then she had pressed her trembling lips to Regina’s, and then they were kissing with all the raw ache of weeks apart, tears streaming down their faces and mingling as they clutched at each other.

**

Emma stopped just outside the council chamber and turned to face her. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Regina said dryly. They had sat up for hours the night before poring over the law books and planning until they had settled on this approach. Now, in the light of day, she was much less sure that it would work.

“Regina,” Emma prodded again, catching her chin with gentle fingers. “It’s your decision.”

“I know,” she said. “And I want to. I just- What if it all falls apart?”

“Then we tell them to fuck off and run away together.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that simple, Emma.”

“No,” Emma agreed, her voice soft. “It’s not simple at all. But it is that clear for me. It’s my way, or-”

“Or the highway?” Regina finished, incredulous.

“Yeah.” She grinned. “You ready?”

Regina chuckled. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Every spine straightened as Emma swept into the room, shoulders back, head up, and radiating authority. It made Regina want to drag her back upstairs to bed, even as she knew perfectly well she was at least partially trying to ignore the not-quite-nice looks she was getting from some of the advisers.

“Good morning,” Emma greeted pleasantly. She waited just long enough for the murmured response before launching in. “There has been a development, and I’d like to issue a proclamation immediately.”

“Yes, right away, Your Majesty,” a toady little man said, almost comically obsequious as he quickly found parchment and ink.

“I, Her Majesty, Queen Emma the First,” and she paused to wink at Regina mid-dictation at the silliness of it all, “do hereby proclaim Regina, formerly Her Majesty Regina, the admiral of my navy and my chief adviser.”

For what must have been stifled gasps, they were still rather audible.

“Your Majesty, you can’t- there’s no precedent- she’s- not _appropriate_ -” the toady little man sputtered.

“I wasn’t asking,” Emma said coldly. Regina was astonished at how much she had grown into this role and how to use her power since last she’d been here, but kept her expression neutral.

That brought him up short. “I- what?”

“I am not asking you. I don’t _ask_ you for permission. I tell you. And then you do my will. That’s how this works.”

Regina watched with carefully concealed glee as jaws dropped.

“And for that matter,” Emma went on, “there _is_ a precedent. My great- great- great -great- grandfather named a commoner, his dearest _friend_ ,” and Regina had to suppress a chuckle at the emphasis, because it had been totally clear, if veiled, that the man was his lover, “to be his adviser. With far less experience than Regina has.”

There was much looking down and shuffling of feet at her vehemence.

“And if anyone has a problem with my decision, there’s the door.” She pointed.

The room fell deathly silent.

“Have I made myself clear?” Emma asked after a moment.

There were murmurs of “Yes, Your Majesty,” and Emma’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment she went on.

“Good. And, you’re going to treat her with every bit of the respect she deserves.”

Silence again. Emma glared at them for a long, long moment until she got the spoken agreement she wanted.

“Good,” she said again. “I don’t want to hear otherwise, and you can be sure that she will _tell_ me.”

That last was a command for Regina, and she raised an unimpressed eyebrow, then dipped her head in acknowledgement. As Emma’s adviser, she had to take orders, and they’d just have to learn to separate it from being lovers.


	40. Chapter 40

Emma was feeling mildly triumphant that naming Regina adviser had gone so well this morning. She was finally getting a feel for all of the politics and intrigue of being queen. In combination with Regina being back and intending to stay, she was in such a good mood that she almost wanted to skip her way down the corridor.

If it had been any other hallway she might have. But this one led to her mother’s prison, and it was time to visit. She had come by regularly since she had taken the throne. In part, it was because family ties didn’t go away just because your mother was a murderous, paranoid despot. Plus, she did feel bad at having to imprison anyone, even a murderous, paranoid despot. But also, her mother hadn’t stopped being murderous or paranoid just because she was no longer on the throne, and that meant that it was a good idea to keep an eye on her.

She nodded to the guards outside the doors, and they moved quickly to let her in. She strode in purposefully, not even checking that they would close the doors behind her, and had just taken breath to issue her standard, studiously polite greeting when she realized that her parents weren’t alone and stopped in her tracks.

It was the gamekeeper, Robin, who was certainly free to come and go in most parts of the palace without suspicion. But not here. Her parents weren't allowed visitors without her approval.

“How did you get in here?” she demanded. Her mind worked furiously. Had the guards let him in? Were they on her mother’s side? Was this a trap?

Her mother and Robin looked at her stone-faced, and her father refused to meet her eyes. She chewed the inside of her cheek for a second, then realized she had no choice.

“Guards!” Either they would back her up or the whole thing would come crashing down.

They rushed in immediately. “Yes, Your Majesty, what is it?”

“How did this man get in here?”

The guard blinked, startled. “He had a letter giving him permission.”

“Only I can give him permission!”

“But- but- it was- it was signed-” the man sputtered.

“A fake,” Emma realized. She glared at Robin. “Hand it over.” At his defiant look, she added, “Or they’ll take it from you.”

Reluctantly, the man dug out the parchment and held it out. Taking it, Emma sighed in frustration. It wasn’t even a _good_ fake. But she would deal with the lax security later.

“Why?” she demanded.

“That witch killed my wife!”

Emma blinked. “What?”

“That _woman_ you elevated to be your adviser today. Regina. The _Evil Queen_.” He was sneering now.

“She’s not evil,” Emma said reflexively, if pathetically, still trying to make sense of what she’d just heard.

“Yes she is, Emma,” Snow said, with her characteristic false earnestness. “You don’t know her like I do. Robin told us all about it, and it’s so clear that she has bewitched you.”

Emma felt suddenly very tired. “No, mom, she hasn’t.”

“She has! I don’t know how,” she added, almost to herself. “The deal I made with Rumpelstiltskin was to prevent her from using magic on anyone from our kingdom, but-”

“Oh right, your _deal_. Let’s talk about your deal,” Emma said with a sneer, the rage that she had kept suppressed for weeks now bubbling to the surface.

Snow’s eyes widened as she realized she’d miscalculated, but she mustered a feeble “What about it?”

Emma had just enough presence of mind to recognize that she should really not have this conversation in front of an audience. She turned to the guards. “We _will_ have a conversation about security later, but for now you can go. And one of you take him to the dungeon.” Then she turned to Robin. “You’ll have plenty of time to think about your choices while I decide what to do with you.”

“That’s not fair!” he exclaimed. “Regina is a criminal!”

“Maybe,” Emma said levelly. “But so is my mother, and now so are you.” She jerked her head at the guards and they obeyed immediately, pulling him from the room.

When the door closed behind them she turned back to see her father looking at her sadly. He had known about what happened to her son. She had been thinking about it as her mother’s monstrous crime, but he had _known_ , and no matter how bad he felt about it now he hadn’t protected her when it mattered.

“I know what you did,” Emma gritted out to no one in particular.

“I did what I had to do to keep my kingdom safe,” Snow said, throwing her shoulders back the way she always had when she’d been feeling her authority. “You would have done the same.”

“I would absolutely never have sold a child to a monster,” Emma hissed, pacing now in her frustration. How was this even a conversation she had to have with another human being? Let alone another parent?

“Magic always comes with a price.”

She exploded. “The price was too high!”

Silence fell for a long moment.

Emma took deep breaths to get herself back under control. Finally, she said stiffly, “It doesn’t matter anymore. I rescued my son and stopped you from ever doing the same to anyone else’s.”

“Oh that’s wonderful!” and there Snow was, falsely sweet again. “But how-”

“Regina,” she said flatly. “Regina is how. She rescued me from you and then we rescued my son.”

“You didn’t need rescuing from me.” Snow sounded reproachful.

“The hell I didn’t. You were going to sell me to the highest bidder.” Emma couldn’t tell anymore if her mother was genuinely hurt at the thought of her own daughter feeling trapped by her. Probably she wasn’t. Maybe nothing about them had never been genuine. But even if she did feel hurt, that didn’t make it any less true.

“It’s just politics, Emma.” When Emma just scoffed, she went on. “Some day you’ll have to make a hard decision and you’ll understand.”

“I have had to imprison my own mother to save a kingdom from her. I understand plenty. But it’s clear you never will.” She shook her head. “We’re done here.” As she marched out of the room, she realized she had just seamlessly exerted her authority, the very thing she’d been struggling with. She wondered now if that was a gain or a loss.


	41. Chapter 41

Emma had come back from her meeting with her mother notably subdued. Regina wanted to ask her what had happened, but knew it would have to wait until they were alone.

That night, in their chambers, she tried to be casual about it, leaning a hip against Emma’s dressing table while she was brushing out her hair before bed. “You’ve been quiet this evening.”

“Yeah,” Emma said, noncommittal.

“This afternoon, too,” she prodded again.

“Yeah.”

She wasn’t quite stonewalling, but she also was clearly keeping something inside. There was no help for it. “Since you went to talk to your mother, in fact. What happened?”

Emma’s sigh was gusty. “I had to throw Robin in the dungeon.”

“I can’t say I’ll miss him glaring at me in meetings,” Regina said, trying to keep the tone as light as possible, “but why?”

“He went to see my mother.”

“Which is forbidden, right-” Regina began, trying to think of the follow-up question that could unlock what was bothering Emma.

“He was scheming with her.”

“He was?” What could the man who managed the hunting grounds possibly want to work with Snow about? “Loyalty dies hard, I guess.”

“It’s because of you.”

That wasn’t what Regina had expected, but she also wasn’t really surprised. She had known that there would be resistance to her role in the castle. She had just thought it would be the nobles, not the gamekeeper.

“He said you killed his wife.” Emma hadn’t once looked at her since this conversation started, she realized suddenly.

“Oh.”

Emma was silent for a long, long moment before asking, almost inaudibly. “Did you?”

Regina wasn’t sure where to begin. “I-”

But Emma was barreling on in the face of her pause. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ask. Of course you didn’t.”

“Emma. Emma!” She reached out to grip her shoulder. Once she had her attention, Regina went on. “It’s okay. It’s a fair question.” She took a deep breath. “Honestly, I might have. I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.” Regina sighed. She moved to sit in the chair nearby. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation, but they needed to have it. “I was- a pretty awful person when I was queen. Evil might have been a stretch but I was every bit as ruthless as your mother. That part of your history books was true. I ordered the deaths-” she shook herself and corrected, “I _killed_ a lot of people. It’s quite possible his wife was one of them.”

“Oh.”

“I’ve changed, and I would never do it now,” Regina felt like she needed to say, even though Emma must believe that already. She must. “But that doesn’t make those crimes go away, does it?” she said more than asked.

Silence fell for a long moment. Regina found herself recalling all those crimes. She would never feel bad for killing the king, but taking Snow’s father away had been wrong. But it paled in comparison with hiring the huntsman to kill Snow, then putting a price on her head when she escaped. She’d killed entire villages for harboring her. She’d killed dissidents and rebels, sometimes publicly. And then she had killed her own father just to cast a curse that was supposed to take away everyone’s happy ending. It was the worst thing she’d ever done. But it was also what had led them to this moment, because- because-

Regina’s self-loathing bubbled up and pushed its way out of her mouth. “It’s my fault what happened.”

“What?”

“What happened to you, and to Henry. It’s my fault.”

“No,” Emma said immediately, and she loved her for it.

 “Yes, it is,” Regina insisted, feeling heavy. “Your mother made that deal to stop my curse.”

“Well, yeah,” Emma conceded.

“So, you should really blame me.” It hurt to say it. It hurt so much. But if she wanted to really build a life with Emma they couldn’t pretend that wasn’t true.

“The hell I should,” Emma growled. “She had a choice.”

That made Regina look at her sharply for a moment, but she couldn’t agree. “She had to make a terrible choice, but only because-”

“No, Regina, stop. Listen.” Emma got up and came over to her. Gentle fingers tried to get her to meet her gaze, but she just couldn’t do it. So Emma just kneeled down in her eyeline. “Yes, you did a terrible thing casting that curse. And I can’t begin to imagine living with that. But my mother had choices. If the curse had succeeded I would have broken it.”

A vague memory of Rumpelstiltskin saying that Snow and Charming’s unborn child could stop the darkness came suddenly to mind. “There’s no guarantee-”

“What, you don’t have faith in me?” Emma prodded, and a little smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

It filled her with tenderness. “I have so much faith in you.”

“And that’s more than my mother did.”

Regina winced in sympathy. “True.”

“So when the appointed hour came or the planets aligned or whatever nonsense was foretold, I would have broken it.” Emma’s jaw tightened. “She had a choice. She chose to sacrifice my son.”

Regina could sense that she was on the verge of spiraling out at the anger of that, so she said, as gently as she could, “But then you got him back.”

“And you helped me get him back,” Emma pointed out.

“I guess I did.”

“You _definitely_ did,” she insisted. “And you may have done bad things to lots of people-”

“I definitely did _that_ too,” Regina said ruefully.

“But you’ve been nothing but good for me,” Emma finished.

“Really?” She didn’t quite believe it, even though she would never think that Emma would lie to her.

“Yes. Really.” Emma cupped her face in her hands and kissed her slow and sweet.

Regina felt herself smile for the first time all evening.

“This is really good, too,” Emma said when she pulled back, wiggling her eyebrows.

Regina couldn’t help but chuckle at that, as rusty as it sounded to her own ears after the heaviness of their conversation. “I guess I had better do it some more, then.”


	42. Chapter 42

“Higher on the right side- Not that much- A little more- There. Pin it.”

Emma came around the corner to see Regina, hands on hips, looking with satisfaction at a banner that said “Happy Birthday, Henry!” Party preparations for a child’s birthday were really not something the chief adviser should have been in charge of, but Regina had insisted, making sure everything was just so, and her intensity was both terrifying and endearing. Emma stopped and leaned against the doorframe to watch her snapping out orders as if the servants were her sailors and they were in the middle of a firefight.

It lasted only a moment before one of them caught sight of her and straightened instantly with a strangled, “Your Majesty!”

“As you were,” Emma said, but she stepped fully into the room, the moment lost. She was getting to be mostly comfortable with being queen, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the way people acted around her.

Or, how most people acted around her. “Regina, a word?” She tipped her head toward a small side chamber that, mercifully, had a door.

As soon as it was closed behind them, she pulled Regina close and kissed her soundly.

“Mm,” Regina hummed happily when they parted. “I’m not complaining, but what brought that on?”

“You’re very attractive when you’re ordering people around.”

Regina chuckled and kissed her again. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“So how is it going?”

“Well, I think. His gift is ready and the cake is baking and the decorations are proceeding. Now we just need to hope it doesn’t rain.”

“And-” Emma hesitated, not wanting to suggest that the staff weren’t respecting Regina, but wanting to know if they were.

“It’s going well,” Regina said, understanding what she wanted anyway. “In fact, I haven’t had any trouble in at least a week.”

“Good,” Emma breathed, kissing her again.

Their kisses quickly grew heated. Emma had the vague sense that she was forgetting something, but pushed it aside to ponder the logistics of getting them both undressed and redressed.

Then a tremulous voice came from outside the door. “Your Majesty?”

“Damn it,” Emma murmured under her breath. She felt Regina suppressing laughter against her and poked her in the side reproachfully. Then she raised her voice. “Yes?”

“You have a hearing in five minutes,” came the muffled voice.

“A hearing?”

“For- for the trial?”

“Oh shit,” Emma murmured. She _had_ been forgetting something important. “I’ll be right out.” She turned back to Regina, who was already reaching out to straighten her riding jacket so she could be presentable. “Thanks.”

“I forgot it was this afternoon, too,” Regina confessed. “Do you want me to come?”

“No, I think it will be bad enough without having to see you.”

“Alright. Good luck.”

One more sweet kiss, and Emma turned to go.

**

Emma took a deep, steadying breath. Then she raised her voice to carry and commanded, “Bring in the accused.”

The doors opened, and Robin was escorted in. His hands were chained, but she was glad to see that he looked clean and like he had been adequately fed. He had been imprisoned much longer than she would have wanted. It was her goal for justice in her kingdom to be fair, which meant he would have a trial, and an advocate, but it had been hard to find one. Apparently, he wasn’t a well-liked man. In any case, he would now have a chance to plead his case.

The guards brought him forward to stand in front of her throne. Seated, she was just above eye level with him. He looked at her without shame or remorse, and she sighed to herself. Then she spoke.

“Robin, you stand accused of treason against me. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty, Your Majesty.”

Of course he couldn’t make this easy. “Do you deny that you met with Snow White?”

“I do not, Your Majesty.”

“And you’re aware that’s forbidden because she is an enemy of the state?”

Jiminy Cricket, who had agreed to be his advocate in the end just so that he would have one, flew forward to stop him, but he was already declaring proudly, “I am, Your Majesty.”

“Then how can you claim you’re not guilty?”

“Extenuating circumstances, Your Majesty.”

Here it was. “Which are?”

Jiminy made it to Robin’s shoulder, only to be brushed away as he answered proudly, “It was for the greater good, Your Majesty. I want to save the kingdom by freeing you from the hold of the evil witch, Regina.”

Emma tried to keep a neutral expression on her face. “Let the record show that the crown disputes both that I am under her control and that Regina is an evil witch.”

“But she is!” he blurted.

Emma fixed him with a cold look. “I didn’t ask you a question.” She kept staring him down until his eyes finally dropped. She let the silence last a moment longer before she asked, “Why do you think that?”

His answer was suitably subdued this time. “Because she killed my wife, Your Majesty.”

“She didn’t kill your wife,” came a voice from the back of the room. Emma looked up, irritated at the interruption, to see Marian standing with her arms crossed. She was torn between being happy to see her and still being annoyed that she was speaking out of turn.

“Marian?” Robin said. Emma had been so busy looking at her that she hadn’t noticed that Robin was looking like he’d seen a ghost.

“Do you know this guy?” Emma asked Marian as she walked forward to stand to her side.

“Yes. That’s how I know Regina didn’t kill his wife. _I’m_ his wife. Or,” she corrected with a shrug, “I was, until I left him because he was a wanker.”

“Wait, this guy was your husband? This is the same Robin?” How was that possible when so very much older than her?

“None other. Can’t say I’m happy to see him again, even after all this time.” Neverland, Emma suddenly remembered.

“I don’t blame you.” She turned her attention back to Robin. “Do you have anything else to say for yourself?”

Robin was still staring at Marian, his mouth moving and no sound coming out.

Emma looked at him for a moment, then announced, “We’ll postpone this hearing until the accused collects his wits.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Marian muttered for her ears alone, and she didn’t quite succeed in suppressing her chuckle.


	43. Chapter 43

Hearing the door to her office open, Regina looked up from her ledger, ready to snap at whoever had barged in uninvited. Emma would still be at the hearing, so there was no one who-

“Marian!” Smiling she got up and met her half way across the room with a tight hug.

Marian hugged her right back, and when they pulled apart she held her at arms’ length for a moment, turning her from side to side a bit.

“What?” Regina prompted finally.

“Look at you. Desk job. Paperwork. Next thing you’ll have eyeglasses. You’re getting soft on me.”

Regina snorted in amusement, saying “Hush,” and pushing her hands off. “I’m so glad you made it. Did it go well?”

“Well enough. Caught sight of one of George’s, but couldn’t catch it. Then we had to turn around. Henry would never forgive us if we missed his birthday,” Marian said solemnly, but with a twinkle in her eye.

“Never,” Regina agreed.

“How are things here?” Marian, chuckling.

“It’s been mostly uneventful. I’ve been up to my nose in party preparations. Though there was that one lunatic trying to commit treason-”

To her surprise, Marian laughed outright at that.

“What?” she demanded. “Why is that funny?”

“Because he thought you killed his wife. Who is very much alive.” Still smiling, she shook her head. “It’s pretty absurd.”

“Wait, she’s alive? How do you-”

Marian just raised an eyebrow and waited for her to get there.

“No,” Regina said when she eventually realized. “That’s him? Ew,” she blurted, before adding, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. He was a good man once, but not for a long time.”

“I’m glad you got rid of him and came to join my crew.”

“Me too,” Marian said, contemplative.

“Speaking of which,” Regina said, turning back and flipping through the neat sheaf of parchment on her desk, “I have something for you.”

“You do?”

“It’s time we make this official, don’t you think? Emma wanted to have a big ceremony, but I know that’s not your thing.”

“Not really, but- wait, what?”

“I had several reports come in today, I just need to- Here.” Regina found it at last and held it out. “A promotion, to captain of the Jolly Roger. And your own charter as privateer.”

Marian just stared at her for a long moment, eyes suspiciously moist.

“Are you getting soft on me?” Regina said, though her voice wavered a bit too.

“You’re giving me your ship?”

“She’s been as much yours as mine for years, Mar,” she said gently. “And you deserve to be recognized as captain.”

“This is too much, I-”

“Take as good care of her as you have of me all these years, and we’ll call it even,” Regina said firmly. “Go plunder for the crown, and you’re welcome back here any time.”

Marian’s hug was fiercer this time, and Regina held her just as tight.

**

It was time. Regina signaled to the groom, standing unobtrusively at the entrance to the garden, then nodded to Emma once he had slipped out.

Emma smiled, then raised her voice to carry. “Attention, everyone.” Regina noted with satisfaction that they all quieted immediately.

“As you all know, Henry is getting to be quite old.”

“How old is he?” Marian called out. The courtiers looked scandalized, but Emma just chuckled.

“Almost a young man, in fact. A fine, kind, smart young man.” She smiled tenderly at him, and he managed to contain his embarrassment enough to smile back at her, and Regina’s heart felt impossibly full watching them. “And he is in fact so old that I think it’s time for him to begin some young man things.”

That was Regina’s cue. “Bring him in, Jerome,” she called.

The groom entered the garden, leading a gorgeous black war horse. Regina had picked him out, assuring that he was well-muscled and high-spirited but not overly excitable.

“For me?” Henry exclaimed, all eager little boy in this moment.

“Your very own. You’ll grow and train together, and when the time comes for you to learn to joust—much, _much_ later—” she emphasized, getting a chuckle from the party guests, “you’ll have an appropriate mount.”

“Thank you!” He ran forward and threw his arms around her, and Regina glared at the few courtiers who looked as if they thought a son hugging his mother was in any way inappropriate until they dropped their eyes.

After a long moment they pulled apart, and Regina thought probably no one else would hear the little quaver in Emma’s voice as she announced, “And now, let’s have some cake!”

**

Regina gave her best diplomatic smile and toasted to Henry and Emma’s health along with yet another minor noble. The routine was getting quite old, and if she hadn’t unobtrusively switched the contents of her flagon for water long ago she would be well on her way to drunk by now.

“Regina!”

Turning, she saw Merlin approaching her and found her genuine smile for the first time in at least an hour. “Excuse me,” she said politely to the noble.

Merlin swept her up in a firm hug, then pulled back, looking worried, “Oh, should I not?”

“Probably,” she said. “But Emma is determined to resist all those stupid rules.”

“Fair enough,” he said, smiling down at her. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you. You’re looking well. Being first officer suits you,” she said conspiratorially.

He snorted. “It’s only been about half an hour since Marian promoted me.”

“It’s well deserved.”

“Yes?” And here he was, the uncertain man who’d asked to join her crew to try to forget his dark past all those years ago.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “You’ll be a good first officer. You could have been at any time if there had been a place.”

“It’s not the same without you,” he said, a little wistful.

“No,” she agreed, because she missed it too. “It’s not.” And yet-

“But this is what’s right for you.”

She looked up at him intently. “Yes?” She asked not because she was uncertain, but because she needed to know that he wasn’t, that he didn’t feel like she had abandoned them.

“Yes,” he said firmly.

**

Regina couldn’t help scanning the crowd for any signs of trouble. She loved that Emma was kind, but she couldn’t agree with her choice to let Robin off with just a warning. It was trouble waiting to-

“There you are!”

Half jumping out of her skin, she turned to see Tink. “Are you done circulating yet?” the fairy asked.

“It’s good to see you, too, Tink,” Regina deadpanned.

“It is,” Tink agreed. “You’re looking really well. Almost radiant.”

Regina let out an inelegant snort at that. “Come on, radiant?”

“Yeah,” Tink said, serious for the first time. “As much as I hated that you refused at the time, it was the right choice. This is better than any soulmate.”

Regina just stared at her for a long moment, unsure what to make of that.

“I mean it,” Tink insisted. “I think this is really what you were destined for.”

“To shack up with Snow White’s daughter?”

“You can’t say it’s not pretty good revenge,” Tink said with a wink, and Regina couldn’t help but laugh.

**

The evening was starting to wind down before she found Marian again. She was sitting by the apple tree looking pensive, and it felt like such a reversal that Regina had to sit down beside her. “You okay?”

“What?” Marian was surprised. “Oh. Yeah, definitely. Just taking it all in. My own ship. I never thought it would happen.”

“Maybe it was selfish to keep you as my first officer for so long instead of letting you grow.”

“No, no. That isn’t what I meant,” Marian assured her. “I just thought it would be us and the Jolly Roger and the sea forever.”

Regina felt a little pang of guilt. “Me too.”

“It makes it easier to let you go knowing that you’re so happy with Emma.”

Regina felt vaguely disgruntled that everyone could apparently tell so much about her emotions.

Marian snorted, seeing right though her as she always did. “Regina, your face is like a lighthouse beacon when you look at her. It’s admirable. And she’d better treat you right.”

“Oh yeah?” Regina chuckled.

“Yeah, or else she’s gonna find all her ships plundered.”

**

When she re-entered the main garden, she found it deserted except for Neal trying ineffectively to rouse a sleeping Henry to take him to bed. Glancing up, he grinned at her. “Guess I’ll have to just haul him like a roll of canvas.”

“I can call the servants-” Regina began, but he cut her off.

“You have somewhere else to be,” he said, tipping his head toward the tower where Emma’s chambers were.

“But-” she felt torn between taking care of Henry and going to Emma.

“Hey, what’s the use of Henry having three parents if we can’t trade off sometimes?”

“What?”

He shrugged. “That’s how I’ve been thinking about it, anyway. None of us got to raise him so far, but we’re all getting the hang of it now, together, right?”

“But, me?” She was so fond of Henry, but was it mutual?

“He missed you so much when you were gone. And, for all he’s growing up, he still has a head full of children’s stories. He loves the idea of his mothers the queens ruling the kingdom together.”

“I-”

“I know you don’t want it, but it’s how he sees you.” He chuckled. “So I guess you’re stuck with him now.”

“Gladly,” Regina said, feeling tears pricking her eyes.

“Anyway, get going.” He picked Henry up. “I’ve got this one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here ends the plot. next, the Angstbot Smutty Epilogue(TM).
> 
> it will almost certainly be late, since i'm traveling most of this week and won't have time to write.


	44. Chapter 44

Hearing the door to her chambers open, Emma knew it could be only one person and had a broad smile on her face before she even looked up from her book.

Regina’s answering smile looked a little tentative.

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately.

“Nothing.”

“Regina.”

“Really. I’m just- several people decided to tell me all about myself today and I’m not sure I like it.”

Emma felt anger flare up. “Who was it?”

“No, my love,” Regina said, smiling for real now. “No one said anything bad. Just- something about everyone telling me how right my life is rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Your life isn’t right?” Emma asked, a little ache in her chest.

“It’s so right,” Regina assured her, coming and setting her book aside to crawl into her lap. “But that’s for me to decide.” She kissed her gently. “And you.”

Emma hummed. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Regina said, voice low and intimate and suddenly impossibly erotic.

“Nnh,” Emma groaned.

“Yes, dear?” Regina said.

“Your voice is hot,” Emma said, feeling sheepish but kissing along Regina’s neck anyway.

Regina chuckled and stroked her hair and held her close. This was a night for gentle, adoring touches, then. Emma could do that. Pulling back, she cupped Regina’s face in both hands and kissed her slow and sweet.

Regina was smiling when they parted.

“There’s my girl,” Emma murmured, then encouraged Regina to stand so that she could get up. Once on her feet, she swept Regina up in her arms. Regina gave a little startled squeak and grabbed her shoulders, but once she settled Emma could feel her smile against her neck.

Laying her down on the bed, Emma pressed on top and kissed her again, easy and adoring. She took her time, just appreciating the closeness of being with the woman she loved, running a slow, soft hand along every bit of her she could touch.

Slowly, so slowly, she felt Regina’s kisses shift from gentle to hungry. When the queen started nipping at her lips, she smiled.

“Hi there,” Emma murmured.

“Hi, my love,” Regina said, her hands moving to pull at Emma’s buttons.

“Did you need something?” Emma teased.

“Like you don’t?” Regina said back, poking her playfully in the ribs.

“Oh I definitely do,” Emma murmured, kissing along Regina’s neck and jaw now.

Now it was Regina’s turn to hum, “There’s my girl,” and Emma couldn’t help smiling—then groaning as Regina’s fingers threaded through her hair to keep her mouth right where it was.

She happily obeyed the implicit command, trailing hot, open kisses along every line and plane and curve of Regina’s skin.

Their hands were busy, too, unable to fully undress one another in this position but undoing buttons until they could slide their hands inside one another’s shirts. Regina’s skin felt amazing under her fingertips, and Regina’s fingertips on her skin, but before long she needed more, pulling back so that she could really strip her out of the impeding cloth.

Regina immediately did the same in return, and when they pressed back against one another, it was skin to skin. They both let out little hums of enjoyment, but their touches were still slow and easy. Though their thighs slid easily between one another, they weren’t rocking yet, and the hands that found breasts now were still warm, flat caresses. Emma lost herself in it for long moments, Regina’s mouth on her mouth, and then Regina’s skin. The soft curve of hip under her hand, and then the firm little nipple.

Slowly, Emma’s desire rose, and she just let it for a while, resisting the urge to grind against Regina’s thigh. They had time. They had all the time in the world, now.

Emma’s need had almost reached the unbearable point when she felt Regina move against her, wetness smearing against her thigh and Regina’s thigh pressing more fully where she herself was so, so wet.

“Fuck,” she groaned.

“Yes please,” Regina replied with a chuckle.

What was there to do but slide her hand between them? She slicked up her fingers easily with how wet Regina was, then pushed inside easy, easy, easy. She felt so good, exquisitely good, and her mouth needed to know the hot slickness her fingers were experiencing.

She started to slide down Regina’s body in the next moment, and when she heard a little “Hmh,” she looked up.

“Okay?” she asked.

“Yes,” Regina assured her, cupping her cheek. “I just hate having to choose between you down there and you up here.”

“This now, and that later?” Emma suggested.

“Good idea,” Regina said, then slid her fingers to grip Emma’s hair and encourage her to continue what she had started.

But when Emma dropped her eyes to Regina’s body she was mesmerized by the sight of her breasts, feeling a little “Nnh” push its way out of her mouth and bending to kiss and nuzzle them. Regina’s hum told her she’d allow it, and she was grateful because she felt like if she didn’t get one of those taut little nipples in her mouth in the next moment she might die. Her eyes slid shut with pleasure as she sucked, loving the softness and firmness in her mouth and Regina’s pleasure sounds in her ears. She brought her hand up to roll the other nipple between her fingertips, then traded mouth and hand, lavishing adoration on her.

She stayed that way for long moments, until Regina’s hand in her hair pulled again more insistently. Emma grinned and went gladly, settling on her belly between Regina’s thighs. She took a few precious moments to nuzzle and kiss Regina’s thighs, and where her leg met her body, and nuzzle her pussy just a little.

A soft thumb stroked across her cheek and she looked up, expecting to be told to hurry it along, but Regina was looking at her with a tender expression.  

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” Regina almost whispered, her voice full of emotion. “I love the way you love me.”

What was there to say but “I love you so much. So- much.”

Then Regina bit her lip and raised a suggestive eyebrow, and how could she go from tender to searingly hot so quickly? But Emma didn’t mind it, because abruptly her desire to taste her was almost unbearable again. She gave her long, slow strokes at first, the flat of her tongue worshiping every line and curve of her pussy. She felt so good, so hot and slick and soft and how was she so lucky to have this amazing woman in her bed, in her home, in her heart?

Slowly, so, so slowly she brought her touches to focus, curling her tongue on Regina’s clit at the top of the stroke and pushing inside just a little at the bottom. But she still stroked as softly as she could bear, wanting to make this wonderful experience last even though she could now have it any time she liked. It was still precious and intimate to have her in her mouth and give her pleasure.

“Emma,” Regina groaned eventually.

“Yes?”

“More,” Regina insisted. “I want you inside me.”

That was so hot that Emma just moaned rather than answering, but she did as she was told, and god, she felt even better like this, in her mouth and around her fingers and gripping her hair and moving her hips to meet her mouth.

She let the urgency of Regina’s movements guide her now, tongue and fingers moving faster as she did and touching firmer as she felt her tense, until she was sucking and swirling her tongue and curling her fingers on the outstroke of deep thrusts.

“Yes,” Regina gasped. “Take me. Yours.”

“Mine,” Emma said back. “And I’m yours.”

“Mine,” Regina panted. “Mine, my Emma- fuck- so good- yes my love- suck me- yes- so good- just like that-” She was babbling now, riding the edge of her orgasm, her hips reaching for it, and Emma stayed with her, giving her more and more and more and-

She was coming, and she was so, so beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry this took so long. October turned into a mess. but i should have the second and final part up within the week.


	45. Chapter 45

Regina let the aftershocks roll through her for long moments while Emma gently nuzzled and kissed her cunt. Then, with a satisfied hum, she gripped her hair again and coaxed her upward. Emma grinned up at her, then kissed her way up her body just shy of too slowly before settling on top of her again, just where she wanted her.

“Hi,” Emma murmured in her ear, kissing and nuzzling along her jaw.

“Hi.”

She used the hand still in Emma’s hair to pull her into a deep kiss, loving the weight of her pressing her into the bed and the warmth of her skin all along her body. It was delicious, but after a few moments she realized there was something else she wanted.

Breaking the kiss, she murmured, “Sit up.”

Emma did, then looked down at her with slight confusion that turned into a big grin when she started to shimmy down the bed. When they settled again with Emma’s knees on either side of her, she just looked at her cunt for a long moment, wet and open and so ready for her touch.

Then she gripped her hips and pulled her to her mouth, and they both groaned happily at the first touch. Emma felt incredible, and she stroked a soft, warm tongue over every curve and plane of her, reveling in the slickness and heat on her mouth. She wanted to keep going this way, to let it build slowly while she indulged her own pleasure in touching her, but she knew that Emma’s need had to be acute by now and soon shifted from generally adoring her with her mouth to more focused strokes on her clit.

Emma’s gasped “God!” told her it was appreciated.

She was trying so hard to be still, Regina could tell from the corded muscles in her thighs, but soon she couldn’t help rocking against her mouth. Regina took that as her cue to stroke her faster and firmer, reading Emma’s responses to know when to give her more.

Finally, she wrapped both arms completely around her thighs and held her tight to her mouth, sucking at her clit and swirling her tongue.

Then she was coming, shuddering above her, beautiful and vulnerable and she did so love that she got to see her like this.

A few moments later when Emma started to move to lay beside her, she pulled her back on top almost unconsciously.

At Emma’s chuckle, she explained, “Want you closer.”

“Sounds good to me,” Emma said with a smile, pressing against her just right.

When Regina made a little satisfied hum at that, Emma moved so that she could press her lips against her voicebox. Knowing what she wanted, Regina obligingly hummed again.

“Your voice is hot.”

“So you said.”

“Uh huh,” Emma said, and she felt her hand sliding over her hip and between her thighs again. “And you know what _you_ said?”

“I don’t recall,” she teased.

“Well I do. You wanted me up here while I touch you.”

“I did say that, now that you mention it.”

When Emma, carefully not touching her yet, pulled back to meet her eyes and ask, “And do you still want that?” she loved her impossibly more that she was so thoughtful.

“Yes,” she hummed, moving her own hand to do the same. “Together.”

“Yes please,” Emma hummed, starting to stroke slow and easy circles.

Regina did the same, catching Emma’s chin with her other hand and guiding their lips together for a kiss. It was slow and deep and sweet, with just the barest hint of urgency brought by their fingers steadily stroking. It was so good, and in this moment there was nothing in the world but Emma. She sank into the pleasure of touching her and the pleasure of being touched.

Soon Emma broke the kiss to shudder out a breath, and she knew it was time. She coaxed her up just a bit, then cocked her wrist to push inside.

“Mmh, yes,” Emma groaned, and did the same.

They soon found a rhythm, their touches easy but steady, pressing inside and curling, hips moving to meet each other, just right, just right, breathing each other’s breath. They almost became one being, pleasure flowing between one body and the other, swirling, curling, building.

Regina felt Emma’s body tensing, and she was getting close too. She hovered on the edge for a long, long moment, and it was almost too much, but she wanted to come together.

Then Emma’s hips jerked hard and she let go right along with her. She clutched at Emma as she shook, needing her close closer closest now more than ever, and the way Emma tucked her face against her neck suggested she needed it too.

They stayed that way for a long moment after the shudders subsided, just breathing and being close.

Eventually, Emma shifted to lie more beside than on top of her, propped up on one elbow to look down at her. She was still pressed along her everywhere, so Regina didn’t object.

Emma just looked at her, a soft smile on her face, and Regina reached up to cup her cheek.

“Hello, my love.”

“Hi.” She turned her head to kiss Regina’s palm. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

“How’d I get so lucky?” Emma murmured.

“Fate, perhaps. Or maybe,” she smiled mischievously, “aren’t you glad you ran away from home?”

Emma laughed. “Yeah. Aren’t you glad you didn’t ransom me back?”

“I don’t know, you’ve been an awful lot of trouble.” Just barely, she kept a straight face.

Emma laughed harder, and tickled her side, and she was laughing too, now.

“Say it say it say it,” Emma was insisting.

“Okay, okay!” Regina said, smiling broadly. She rolled them over to press on top of Emma. “I am very glad I didn’t ransom you back.”

“Good,” Emma said, in a self-satisfied way reminiscent of a toddler.

Regina just laughed and kissed her. Then, feeling cold as the sweat of their lovemaking dried, she waved her hand to bring the bedclothes up to cover them and snuggled up.

“Good night,” Emma hummed.

Suddenly exhausted, Regina knew her “G’night” was slurred. Emma stroking her hair was the last thing she was aware of before she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a long, strange trip (almost a year!). thanks for sticking with me and with this story. hope it was worth it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aiming for weekly updates.


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